Brody's Notes & Scribbles... 12 Year Old Boy Organised Protest On Facebook- Police Tell Him He's Subject To Arrest

Nicky Wishart  Photo By Virginia Phelps 

By Brody Levesque (Bethesda, Maryland) DEC 11 | The current global economic crisis which has precipitated actions by numerous governments forced to trim costs, in some cases by eliminating popular programmes  or increasing fees and taxes has created an uproar by the citizens affected. Nowhere has this been more graphically illustrated than in the United Kingdom which has taken what some view as draconian measures as Her Majesty's government implements austerity rules to combat rising deficits and costs.

The changes made by British lawmakers in higher education tuition costs and fees, for example, have been met by violent protests in the streets of London, the most recent of which caused the UK's Prime Minister, David Cameron, to announce publicly in a press conference yesterday, "such behaviour was completely unacceptable."  This on the heels of the news that Prince Charles and his wife Camilla had been mistakenly driven through one of those violent student protests the evening before and had their limousine attacked and an escort security vehicle destroyed. 

The government austerity program has affected all facets of British life and in one small city in the Thames Valley, has forced the closure of youth centres, apparently sparking a protest by a 12 year old English schoolboy whose local center was one of those slated for closure. Being typical of the present internet generation, the lad took to Facebook to set-up a protest and this is where the story gets interesting.

According to British journalist Shiv Malik from the Guardian newspaper:

Nicky Wishart, a pupil at Bartholomew School, Eynsham, Oxfordshire, organised the event on Facebook to highlight the plight of his youth centre, which is due to close in March next year due to budget cuts

The protest, which was due to take place today, has attracted over 130 people on Facebook, most of whom are children who use youth centres in Cameron's constituency, Witney.

Speaking to the Guardian, Nicky Wishart said: "In my lesson, [a school secretary] came and said my head of year wanted to talk to me. She was in her office with a police officer who wanted to talk to me about the protest. He said, 'if a riot breaks out we will arrest people and if anything happens you will get arrested because you are the organiser'.

"He said even if I didn't turn up I would be arrested and he also said that if David Cameron was in, his armed officers will be there 'so if anything out of line happens ...' and then he stopped."

A note here for my American readers, a "constituency" is the rough British equivalent to an American Congressional District.
Now, imagine the lad's Mum's reaction upon getting that kind of a phone call from the school:

Wishart's mother, Virginia Phelps, 41, said: "On Monday I got a phone call in the afternoon at the school from one of the senior staff members, saying, 'we've had the police here, it's to do with the anti-terrorist group, they've taken an interest in something Nicky's posted on FB'.

"I was under the impression that the police would come to the house and speak with us in the evening but I am absolutely fuming that they spoke to him when I wasn't present, especially when I live just 10 minutes from the school."

Speaking about the youth club, Phelps, a mother of three added, "Over the last few months, the kids have been trying to keep the youth club open, raising money by cleaning cars. They've raised £140. Through the club they've been had all sorts of experiences that I couldn't afford to give them myself."

While I can comprehend the fact that given the current climate in Britain over the austerity programmes, UK law enforcement is a tad bit edgy especially after having parts of London undergo the recent rioting, what I don't get is why on earth the UK's police officials would take a page out of the American FBI's playbook.
Seriously folks, this is the type of crap you'd expect from overzealous American cops not the British constabulary. A bunch of school children are a threat to the Prime Minister?
The unfortunate aspect to this silliness and knee-jerk reaction by law enforcement is that it tends to send a clear message to youth that unapproved dissent will not be tolerated.
Of course the police defence was what one might expect- a spokeswoman for Thames Valley police said:

"We have dedicated officers who work in partnership with all the schools in our area to make sure young people remain in education and in a safe learning environment.

On Tuesday 7 December, our schools officer for west Oxfordshire attended the school in Eynsham and spoke to a 12-year-old boy in the company of the pupil's head of year, about a planned protest. This was not with the intention of dissuading him from organising it, but to obtain information regarding the protest to ensure his and others' safety. As with any demonstration, we always aim to facilitate a peaceful protest."

Yeah, right.... Wouldn't there have been a much better way to approach this?