By now videos of the events in Birkenhead County Court on 7th March 2011 will have been seen around the world. If one looks closely, they were in the good old British tradition of protest. The people there had gone beyond the "muttering amongst themselves in pubs and at bus stops" stage of discontent with the Establishment, through "someone ought to do something about it" to "I will do something".
I strongly suspect that for each person present on the day, there were tens of thousands who agreed wholeheartedly with them "and felt themselves accursed they were not there" (to quote Shakespeare) and now are looking forward to the next opportunity to publicly express their discontent. And the Establishment knows this too.
The people who were there - and close inspection of the footage will confirm this - were from all walks of life and parts of the UK and shared our traditional values of insisting on fair play whilst maintaining our standards of politeness and good humour. They ranged from a 90 year old granny from Newcastle who can be seen politely putting the hapless Council officials sitting in the front row of the Courtroom right on a few things to some scary looking "Scottish Sovereigns" in full war paint in the Crowd outside.
Do not mistake the volume of sound that the crowd generated with violence. Queues were formed by police and protestors going in and out of the Court. No policeman’s hats were knocked off (a traditional sign of severe discontent amongst the British). Black umbrellas bearing “Lawful Rebellion” stickers were brandished. No-one was hurt.
No one was hurt, except the man in the green fleece jacket who was arrested in the Court as he tried to get to the Judges exit door from the Court in order to prevent his escape. He was handcuffed and his wrists were chaffed. He took it well, vigorously protested his innocence verbally and encouraged his supporters to start a cry of "welease wodger" (a reference to Roger Hayes and the stuttering Roman official in the Monty Python film "Life of Brian"). The British sense of humour intact and another warning sign for the Establishment. People are beginning to laugh at them.
While this was going on, behind them can be seen "Judge" Peake (not on duty until he has confirmed that he is on oath, of course) wearing a "modernised" Judicial Robe that looked suspiciously like a long dress and a hint of eye shadow. A sign of a decadent establishment perhaps?
Moments before he had uttered the famous last words "I did not think so many people would be interested in your bankruptcy Mr Hayes". Now a large gentleman in a black jacket was confirming that the Judge himself was under arrest for treason and contempt of Court and reassuring him that he would not be hurt.
The Judge, to give him credit and entering into the spirit of things , apparently said "I suppose that the case is adjourned. I hand it over to you". The noise level in the room increased further, and the Judge was bundled out of the room by Court officials. No matter. We know his name and where he works, we can get back to him later. "Escape" is a common law offence but it is the least of his problems.
...MORE HERE...
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