25 June, 2006 | Leave a Comment
The great thing about the World Cup is that whenever England plays, the streets in London are deserted. I love to go out and walk around and pretend I’m the only person left on earth.
This evening, not long after England’s victory over Ecuador, I happened to be in Trafalgar Square. The joint was trashed! There was rubbish and cans everywhere and men were relieving themselves right in broad daylight. It was smelly and gross! The drunken hooligans were matched in number by the police (some wearing fatigues and berets). The police weren’t doing much, aside from confiscating beer from people who were falling-down drunk; one guy who was wearing a flag wrapped around his waist and nothing else was ordered to go find some clothes. [Oh, and I saw a ferret on a leash. The high point of the day.]
It’s interesting to observe how the police in London work [and I’m not just talking about today, but even thinking back to the protests over the Mohammed cartoons earlier this year]. The police in America are much more aggressive – after Boston won the World Series, they actually shot and killed a college student in the melee. While that’s an extreme example, the police in big American cities seem eager to get right in people’s faces and act more adversarial. Here, the police seem to stand back and let people run amok, only stepping in where necessary. This evening in Trafalgar Square, many fans were swimming in the fountain and many had climbed up onto statue in the middle. The police didn’t stop anyone from doing this and the paramedics were actually standing at the edge of the fountain, ready and waiting to help if one of the drunken morons diving head first into the shallow pool of water got injured. Why didn’t they stop the fans from going up there in the first place? I don’t get it.
One guy in the mob started a fight and suddenly, 10 police officers jumped out of the shadows and surrounded him. If we had been in New York, this guy would have been treated to a major smackdown courtesy of the NYPD. But here, the police talked to the guy, shook his hand and let him go. That’s it! I think my stunned reaction to this whole afternoon says a lot about my own social conditioning as an American, especially concerning the expectation of violence. It’s still impossible for me to fathom that most police in this country don’t carry guns.
On the bright side, England won and I got to wade through streams of urine. What a great day! Now I have to burn my shoes.
Tags: World Cup
Anglofille said @ 10:26 pm | World Cup |
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makes you proud to be English!!
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I personally prefer the American cops who get shit done. Yes, don’t we all want drunken violent fools roaming the cities we pay taxes to upkeep tearing everything apart, breaking windows, ruining cars, and relieving themselves like wild animals on the street. Oh, lovely. I for one say, BEAT THEM DOWN my dearest cops. BEAT THEM DOWN and get them out of my face. Long live the LAPD. Anyone who disagrees has obviously never had their car or personal property vandalized.
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There aren’t many people brave enough to defend the LAPD!
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Brit-tun Says:
June 26th, 2006 at 7:34 pmJust a quick point - It’s not actually illegal to swim in the fountain, never has been.
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No, don’t burn the shoes!!! You’d probably be able to sell the piss-stinking shoes on EBAY. If not to some weird World Cup fan, but certainly to a perv who might place a bid or two.
