Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Protesters: Silenced in court | Ellie Mae O'Hagan

Charlie Gilmour

not worth going to jail, but the real tragedy is the future of peaceful dissent

Focus on

student protesters and their various destinations in the courts recently dissipated instead directed to a financial disaster that weighs on the euro area and crisis by the house of Murdoch empire.

Now turn the cameras back to Charlie Gilmour, 21, of Cambridge and a descendant of the dynasty of Pink Floyd today received a prison sentence of 16 months after pleading guilty to violent unrest. Gilmour, and sober, right, with glasses and freshly mowed, presented a very different figure of the eccentric fool who apparently was photographed hanging from a Union flag at the foot of the Cenotaph during the protests last December rate. Later, he was jumping on the hood of a Jaguar in a royal convoy taking the Prince of Wales at the Royal Variety Performance and was found to have also thrown a trash can in the vehicle.

Despite the fragmented nature of the punishment for those accused of violent disorder (currently there are no guidelines for the sentence to the Crown Court), comparatively speaking Gilmour destination appears to be grossly disproportionate and unfair . Simply should not be imprisoned for crimes that hurt people. Is the conviction that raises an overused so often discussed during the phone-hacking scandal: cui bono

Yet the real tragedy here is not only Gilmour. At least for him, the representation of protesters as a kind of extreme left of the Bullingdon Club is correct. His health and money will be through. The tragedy is for the demonstrators were arrested in a similar way in the heat of the moment, but do not have the privilege of turning to Gilmour. I am thinking particularly of Francis Fernie, 20, who was recently convicted of violent disorder by throwing two poles banner outside Fortnum & Mason to protest against cuts in March. Despite a character reference light Fernie was given 12 months in prison - a sentence that the judge described as mild. The lack of glamor and Fernie real remorse made them less attractive to tut-tut that Gilmour and was ignored by the media.

I fear that in the coming months, the stories of protesters watching his future escapes that judges give sentences without mercy on them will become commonplace. Because this is not the only incident to end the under-represented, but reported violent protest. Take part in peaceful civil disobedience will become much more formidable than those arrested during the demonstrations are taken to court.

And as more and more are criminals, what is it? If the public feels safe knowing that LSD really a dead student is behind bars for the next year, we became a nation paranoid effect. And no one benefits from a society where the lack of dissent is the result of fear, not happiness.


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