{"id":50506,"date":"2021-01-30T18:36:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T22:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=50506"},"modified":"2021-01-30T18:36:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T22:36:45","slug":"covid-1984-comes-to-the-uk-with-harass-arrest-policy-towards-british-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=50506","title":{"rendered":"COVID-1984 Comes to the UK with &#8220;Harass &#038; Arrest&#8221; Policy Towards British Citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Videos: UK Police Harass And Arrest People For Going To Work, Shops<\/h1>\n<h3>\u201cWe\u2019re the police, we\u2019re not just someone, you idiot\u201d<\/h3>\n<p><!--more-->Steve Watson<br \/>\nSUMMIT News<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-50507 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/harrasment.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/harrasment.jpg 800w, http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/harrasment-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/harrasment-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Two viral videos encapsulate the state of the UK at the moment with police abusing powers given to them to enforce lockdown laws. In one case a man was arrested on his way to work for not identifying himself, while another who went to a shop was hauled away for not wearing a mask properly.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>West Midlands police were forced to apologise after a man in Solihull was followed, called an idiot, and finally arrested by overly officious police.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/embed\/video\/2343132.html\" width=\"698\" height=\"573\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The police can be seen harassing the man, asking him where he is going, where he lives and demanding his name.<\/p>\n<p>The guy was just trying to go to work.<\/p>\n<p>When the man refused to give his name, saying \u201cdon\u2019t worry about it\u201d, and asked the officer to turn on his body cam, the harassment was ratcheted up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you mean don\u2019t worry about it?\u201d the officer replied, adding \u201cWe\u2019re here to enforce legislation, mate, so I need to know who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t need to know who I am \u2013 I haven\u2019t committed an offence,\u201d the man replied.<\/p>\n<p>The officer then threatened \u201cunder coronavirus legislation you have to provide me with some details, otherwise you\u2019re going to be arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the man asked what he was going to be arrested for, the officer said he was \u201carguing\u201d and that was providing \u201creasonable suspicion\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re obviously just harassing me, because I\u2019ve got a hoodie on, I\u2019ve got a coat on, I\u2019m on my way to work, I\u2019m a normal citizen,\u201d the guy replied, adding \u201cWhy would I allow someone to just pull me over?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The officer then replied \u201cWe\u2019re the police, we\u2019re not just someone, you idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat, so just because you\u2019re the police, that gives you the right to stop anyone you want and get their details?\u201d the man replied, urging \u201cYou need to be reinformed about the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The officer then hauled the man away.<\/p>\n<p>The police force later issued a statement noting that \u201cIt\u2019s clear that the officer\u2019s conduct fell far below what we would expect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe man explained he was heading to work \u2013 that\u2019s clearly a justifiable reason to be out and about and there was no suspicion he had committed any offences,\u201d the statement continued, concluding \u201cAs such, he should not have been challenged in the way he was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is far from an isolated incident, with another video emerging showing officers in Merseyside pinning a man to the floor of a supermarket after he refused to give them his name.<\/p>\n<p>Police claim the man was wearing a mask around his neck, not covering the face, which is why officers approached him.<\/p>\n<p>However, the man insisted that he only lowered the mask to clean his glasses, which had steamed up.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/embed\/video\/2343862.html\" width=\"698\" height=\"573\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t want to give my details because I hadn\u2019t done anything wrong and when he grabbed me I tried to pull away,\u201d the man told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was startled and I didn\u2019t know what to do so I tried to get him away from me. He then put my hands behind my back and pushed me onto the floor,\u201d the man added.<\/p>\n<div id=\"in-article\">\n<div class=\"ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Police ejected him from the store and fined him \u00a3100, stopping short of arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Supermarkets are<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/news\/13704538\/queues-spot-checks-supermarkets-covid-rules\/\">\u00a0being patrolled by police<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/inews.co.uk\/news\/health\/supermarkets-coronavirus-rules-lockdown-matt-hancock-824547\">inspected<\/a>\u00a0amid claims that they are not enforcing social distancing rules effectively enough. Some may face fines for \u2018bending the rules\u2019, according to reports.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/11\/uk-government-may-only-let-people-out-once-a-week\/\">People have been encouraged not to socialise or even talk\u00a0<\/a>to friends in the street or supermarket.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/08\/covid-police-quiz-couple-with-pushchair-because-they-were-in-a-town-centre\/\">In a separate incident<\/a>, a couple with a baby and a pushchair were grilled by COVID police in Birmingham city centre merely for walking on the street. The report noted that the Police Community Support Officers then began quizzing people who had arrived at a pharmacy to pick up prescription drugs.<\/p>\n<p>Police are also harassing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/04\/police-demand-elderly-lady-stop-feeding-pigeons-under-covid-lockdown-rules\/\">old ladies feeding pigeons<\/a>, and others walking and sitting on benches in parks or along waterfronts.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1348240746831372289&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fsummit.news%2F2021%2F01%2F29%2Fvideos-uk-police-harass-and-arrest-people-for-going-to-work-shops%2F&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1348240746831372289\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/08\/women-interrogated-fined-by-covid-police-for-going-on-a-walk\/\">Two women were interrogated<\/a>\u00a0and fined by police for going on a walk in a remote area 5 miles from where they lived despite this not being illegal under coronavirus laws. Police told the women that hot drinks they were carrying constituted a \u201cpicnic\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The women, Jessica Allen and Eliza Moore, told reporters that the police appeared\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/tv\/tv-news\/women-fined-walk-tell-morning-23296980\">\u2018desperate to fine them\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As we have previously reported, police recently announced the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/06\/lockdown-cops-to-stop-people-in-the-street-issue-fines-target-anti-lockdown-anti-vaccine-protesters\/\">adoption of a new \u2018hardline\u2019 lockdown policy<\/a>\u00a0to stop and question people if they are out in the street, and to issue on the spot fines if they cannot provide a reasonable excuse for being out of their houses.<\/p>\n<p>Police also said they would specifically target \u2018anti-lockdown,\u00a0anti-vaccine\u00a0protesters\u2019, saying that \u201cwe now have a hardcore element who are against the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Police are also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/06\/police-demand-power-to-force-entry-into-homes-of-suspected-lockdown-violators\/\">demanding new powers<\/a>\u00a0to force entry into the homes of suspected lockdown violators.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/26\/video-covid-police-enter-home-to-break-up-baby-shower-party\/\">Videos<\/a>\u00a0have already\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/08\/police-enter-home-arrest-family-after-neighbor-snitched-on-them-for-violating-covid-rules\/\">emerged<\/a>\u00a0of cops entering people\u2019s homes after receiving reports from snitching neighbours reporting visitors.<\/p>\n<p>As we\u00a0also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/26\/uk-covid-cops-threaten-200-fines-for-people-having-snowball-fights\/\">highlighted<\/a>, police are threatening people with fines if they enjoy winter weather.<\/p>\n<p>One local police force even\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/08\/police-embarrassed-over-tweet-complaining-of-2-reports-of-snowballs-being-thrown-in-violation-of-lockdown\/\">angrily tweeted<\/a>\u00a0about \u201c2 reports of snowballs being thrown\u201d in violation of coronavirus lockdown rules.<\/p>\n<p>Another police force<a href=\"http:\/\/north%20yorkshire\/\">\u00a0threatened people with fines for planning to go sledging<\/a>\u00a0in a remote area of North Yorkshire.<\/p>\n<p>Avon and Somerset Police even\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/11\/uk-police-boast-about-fining-person-eating-a-kebab-alone-in-a-car\/\">boasted<\/a>\u00a0about fining a person for sitting in their car alone, eating a kebab.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to following the rules themselves, some police don\u2019t seem to care about complying.<\/p>\n<p>Video emerged of police officers themselves\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/08\/lockdown-police-caught-on-camera-violating-their-own-lockdown-rules\/\">sitting down in a cafe\u00a0<\/a>drinking coffee, with the person filming them questioning why they were not following the rules.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/29\/videos-uk-police-harass-and-arrest-people-for-going-to-work-shops\/\">https:\/\/summit.news\/2021\/01\/29\/videos-uk-police-harass-and-arrest-people-for-going-to-work-shops\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Videos: UK Police Harass And Arrest People For Going To Work, Shops \u201cWe\u2019re the police, we\u2019re not just someone, you idiot\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}