7 ms·

Do you have any examples of people being arrested for criticising a law? Most of the time these dystopian descriptions of the UK turn out to be completely over

Do you have any examples of people being arrested for criticising a law? Most of the time these dystopian descriptions of the UK turn out to be completely overblown nonsense when you look into them properly.

b800h 1y ago
I suppose the most recent example are the people from Palestine Action being arrested en masse at protests.
- Lio 1y ago
  They're not really being arrested for criticising a law though. They're arrested for supporting a group that's been banned for causing around £30 million's worth of damage to our national defences at a time of hightened national security. There's the implication that Palastinian Action are going to continue attacking us. If they just stuck to protesting they would have been fine.
  - pjc50 1y ago
    And at the same time, while people burning down hotels have been arrested, other people who have been egging them on and causing "stochastic terrorism" have been left alone. What gets classed as "support for" and "terrorism" is not evenly enforced.
    - flumpcakes 1y ago
      I think this is an inaccurate description of what has been happening: people have criticised the government heavily for being extremely harsh on people "just making tweets". A woman was sentenced to nearly three years in jail for posting a message online that said "set fire to the hotels for all I care" (paraphrased). These riots are spontaneous and "organised" via people getting riled up online. There isn't a central organisation that people see as leading these anti-migrant riots/attacks. They seem to be an emergent property of the protests. If there is a named group organising criminal action and it includes things that threaten/damage national security then that group should be banned. Palestine Action was conducting organised criminal raids with the specific intent to cause damage to anything it felt was Israeli, Israel related, or somehow benefited Israel. A lot of the time the link was tenuous at best. They also attacked national security assets. Honestly this group's actions has done more harm than good for the Palestinian cause.
  - selfmodruntime 1y ago
    „Arrested for supporting a group“ you hear yourself right?
    - immibis 1y ago
      That can be a good thing depending on the group. I think people who support the NSDAP should be arrested. We know what happens if you don't arrest people who support the NSDAP because it happened once.
ls612 1y ago
https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/05/15/britains-police-are-restricting-speech-in-worrying-ways https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/05/15/britains-police... Tons of people are arrested and charged every day for thought crimes in Britain.
- Steve16384 1y ago
  Paywalled. Might be better: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/parents-arrest-school-whatsapp-complained-cowley-hill-b2723751.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/parents-arre... It sounds like there was harrasment involved, but it is scant on details.
  - pjc50 1y ago
    Whenever one of these stories come up, we find there is a side missing. In this case, it's a school, so for safeguarding reasons they're not going to say anything at all about the children. Quite often "arrested for saying X" turns out to be "arrested for a lengthy campaign of targeted harrasment, culminating in X"
dkdbejwi383 1y ago
Yup, along the same lines as the “sharia no go zones” and “get stabbed six ways to Sunday every time you go outside” myths
- b800h 1y ago
  Our town has been abandoned by police and is overrun with violent criminals on unlicensed motorbikes. So make of that what you will.
  - dkdbejwi383 1y ago
    Which town? I’d be interested in reading about this if you could share some sources please
- octo888 1y ago
  Myths not without an element of truth. Have you spent any serious amount of time in Bradford, for example?
  - dkdbejwi383 1y ago
    Yup, nice town, friendly people. Bit run down and scruffy, but that’s hardly the fault of the people who live there, rather the economic policies of several decades that destroyed the region’s industry and has failed to encourage growth for a replacement - similar to the USA’s rust belt or similar post-industrial regions in Europe.
    - octo888 1y ago
      https://www.plumplot.co.uk/City-Bradford-crime-stats.html https://www.plumplot.co.uk/City-Bradford-crime-stats.html it is the 2nd most violent city in the UK It's a city, by the way, not a town. What took you as an Australian to Bradford? How long did you spend there? I've lived nearby for over 5 years. It's reassuring to know none of the crime issues are the fault of anyone but successive governments! What lefty, university nonsense
- 1y ago
Devilspawn6666 1y ago
Look up the videos "blackbeltbarrister" on YouTube. He's doing a good job of explaining the law as it is and how it's really being applied in the UK.
rubyAce 1y ago
There are discussions in parliament about grooming gangs on X. These are soft-censored (you can't see it without passing the the age verification). Few people will be bothered to make an account to see a post and pass age verification. Therefore it slows the sharing of information. It isn't about outright banning the discussion, because that will cause considerable push-back by the public. So you dress up a policy as doing one thing knowing that the effect will be another. I don't take anything the British State says at face value. If you do, you are simply being naive.
- teamonkey 1y ago
  Parliament debates are broadcast on the BBC and https://parliamentlive.tv/ https://parliamentlive.tv/ . Are they age restricted there?
- alt227 1y ago
  But we are only in the first week of the bill passing. After say 6 months or a year, most people who want to see things on those platforms will have done the age verification, and therefore there will be no "soft censoring" or slow down of information. This seems like a non issues isolated to the initial period of being introduced.

b800h 1y ago

I suppose the most recent example are the people from Palestine Action being arrested en masse at protests.

Lio 1y ago
They're not really being arrested for criticising a law though. They're arrested for supporting a group that's been banned for causing around £30 million's worth of damage to our national defences at a time of hightened national security. There's the implication that Palastinian Action are going to continue attacking us. If they just stuck to protesting they would have been fine.
- pjc50 1y ago
  And at the same time, while people burning down hotels have been arrested, other people who have been egging them on and causing "stochastic terrorism" have been left alone. What gets classed as "support for" and "terrorism" is not evenly enforced.
  - flumpcakes 1y ago
    I think this is an inaccurate description of what has been happening: people have criticised the government heavily for being extremely harsh on people "just making tweets". A woman was sentenced to nearly three years in jail for posting a message online that said "set fire to the hotels for all I care" (paraphrased). These riots are spontaneous and "organised" via people getting riled up online. There isn't a central organisation that people see as leading these anti-migrant riots/attacks. They seem to be an emergent property of the protests. If there is a named group organising criminal action and it includes things that threaten/damage national security then that group should be banned. Palestine Action was conducting organised criminal raids with the specific intent to cause damage to anything it felt was Israeli, Israel related, or somehow benefited Israel. A lot of the time the link was tenuous at best. They also attacked national security assets. Honestly this group's actions has done more harm than good for the Palestinian cause.
- selfmodruntime 1y ago
  „Arrested for supporting a group“ you hear yourself right?
  - immibis 1y ago
    That can be a good thing depending on the group. I think people who support the NSDAP should be arrested. We know what happens if you don't arrest people who support the NSDAP because it happened once.

ls612 1y ago

https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/05/15/britains-police-are-restricting-speech-in-worrying-ways https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/05/15/britains-police... Tons of people are arrested and charged every day for thought crimes in Britain.

Steve16384 1y ago
Paywalled. Might be better: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/parents-arrest-school-whatsapp-complained-cowley-hill-b2723751.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/parents-arre... It sounds like there was harrasment involved, but it is scant on details.
- pjc50 1y ago
  Whenever one of these stories come up, we find there is a side missing. In this case, it's a school, so for safeguarding reasons they're not going to say anything at all about the children. Quite often "arrested for saying X" turns out to be "arrested for a lengthy campaign of targeted harrasment, culminating in X"

dkdbejwi383 1y ago

Yup, along the same lines as the “sharia no go zones” and “get stabbed six ways to Sunday every time you go outside” myths

b800h 1y ago
Our town has been abandoned by police and is overrun with violent criminals on unlicensed motorbikes. So make of that what you will.
- dkdbejwi383 1y ago
  Which town? I’d be interested in reading about this if you could share some sources please
octo888 1y ago
Myths not without an element of truth. Have you spent any serious amount of time in Bradford, for example?
- dkdbejwi383 1y ago
  Yup, nice town, friendly people. Bit run down and scruffy, but that’s hardly the fault of the people who live there, rather the economic policies of several decades that destroyed the region’s industry and has failed to encourage growth for a replacement - similar to the USA’s rust belt or similar post-industrial regions in Europe.
  - octo888 1y ago
    https://www.plumplot.co.uk/City-Bradford-crime-stats.html https://www.plumplot.co.uk/City-Bradford-crime-stats.html it is the 2nd most violent city in the UK It's a city, by the way, not a town. What took you as an Australian to Bradford? How long did you spend there? I've lived nearby for over 5 years. It's reassuring to know none of the crime issues are the fault of anyone but successive governments! What lefty, university nonsense
1y ago

Devilspawn6666 1y ago

Look up the videos "blackbeltbarrister" on YouTube. He's doing a good job of explaining the law as it is and how it's really being applied in the UK.

rubyAce 1y ago

There are discussions in parliament about grooming gangs on X. These are soft-censored (you can't see it without passing the the age verification). Few people will be bothered to make an account to see a post and pass age verification. Therefore it slows the sharing of information. It isn't about outright banning the discussion, because that will cause considerable push-back by the public. So you dress up a policy as doing one thing knowing that the effect will be another. I don't take anything the British State says at face value. If you do, you are simply being naive.

teamonkey 1y ago
Parliament debates are broadcast on the BBC and https://parliamentlive.tv/ https://parliamentlive.tv/ . Are they age restricted there?
alt227 1y ago
But we are only in the first week of the bill passing. After say 6 months or a year, most people who want to see things on those platforms will have done the age verification, and therefore there will be no "soft censoring" or slow down of information. This seems like a non issues isolated to the initial period of being introduced.