The Police arrested the man and the cyclists during the Olympic games.
Arrested man with Parkinson's Disease
A man with Parkinson’s disease was arrested during the Olympic cycling road race because the Surrey Police thought he was not smiling and enjoying the event.
Mark Worsford, 54, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, was arrested for not smiling. The former soldier and martial arts instructor was sitting on a wall when the Surrey Police arrested him for breach of the peace. Mr Worsford was dragged from the 7ft wall, thrown to the ground, handcuffed in front of the watching crowd and bundled unceremoniously into a Police vehicle.
The reason why he was not smiling was that his face muscles are affected by the Parkinson’s disease.
Of course he was fingerprinted, photographed and had a D.N.A. sample taken and held in custody for FIVE hours before being released without charge.
The Surrey Police did not inform his wife of his arrest. It was only when he was absent from his daughter’s ninth birthday party and his wife reported him missing that his family were told of his situation.
How do you think his daughter felt that her father was not at her ninth birthday party?
Is it not strange that we are often told and reminded that we should feel proud and grateful to live in a free and democratic society but that a man can be arrested by the Police for not smiling? Why was John Prescott not arrested years ago? Or Tony Blair for his “trust me I am Tony” false smile?
Maybe I missed it but was since when was it a crime not to smile in public?
Maybe it was passed under the 3,000 plus laws passed through parliament by the Tony Blair-led New Labour government, many removing people’s rights to free and democratic public demonstration and free speech.
In George Orwell’s book 1984 there are the “Thought Police”. In Surrey they have the “Smile Police”.
Mass Cyclist Arrest
On Friday evening 27th July 2012 whilst London was preparing for the Olympic opening ceremony the Police struck. The Metropolitan Police (The Met), were set for revenge. The Met had been waiting since 2008 for the moment when they could apply the law, arrest and make an example of the monthly London “Critical Mass” bicycle ride in London.
The cyclists were pursued through the streets of London by the Met which ended up with people being “kettled,” sprayed with pepper spray and assaulted amid scuffles by Met. Police officers. A disabled man on a tricycle was pepper sprayed, and put into a neck lock with the aid of an extendable Police baton before being arrested.
The Met. Police said people were arrested under section 12 of the Public Order Act and for causing a public nuisance.
In 2008 the Met Police lost their case in the House of Lords to prevent the monthly bicycle event taken place unless the cyclists agreed to a prescribed route set by the Police. The Police argued that the event was political rather than an event to raise awareness of cycling in London.
"Spontaneity is at their heart. To insist upon a settled route would be to destroy their character and purpose," the Lords ruled.
The number of people arrested was somewhere between 120 and about 160, some estimate it at 182, most were held over night in buses without any normal detention facilities available such as a toilet and their bicycles were confiscated. Part of the bail conditions were to stay outside the Olympic Borough of Newham on a bicycle and being banned from entering any Olympic only carriageway or going within 100 yards of an Olympic venue.
It may be that the Met Police were using the security of the Olympic Games as an excuse to stop and arrest the cyclists. The Met Police spokesman would not say how many Police officers were involved but to pursue about 500 cyclists across London, to kettle and arrest them must have involved hundreds of Police and Police hours. I wonder how much it will all cost by the end of it all.
The Critical Mass cyclists feel they have a case against the Police’s actions and why the event was stopped.
“You might dodge them for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they are bound to get you.”
Maybe I missed it, but how could such a large incident involving hundreds of Police and cyclists, a chase across the streets of London not make the national/local television or radio news and hardly be reported in the national press and Evening Standard. It was front page news on the Islington Tribune.
McTaggart
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