G20 protest - waste of time, waste of money (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

G20 protest - waste of time, waste of money

3:33pm Monday 6th April 2009

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By Martin Buhagiar »

ANOTHER year and yet again overgrown students, childish university lecturers and hippies whose nose rings outweigh their IQs have come out to play.

A number of the people protesting last week probably think that G20 is the latest boy band.

They probably think that capitalism is when you incorrectly start a word without a capital letter. And those who claimed they went along hoping not to see any violence must live on a different planet.

The protesters accused bankers, city workers and the Government of wasting millions of pounds. Yes they did. But how much did it cost the taxpayer to police this ‘event’?

Meanwhile climate change demonstrators held placards above their heads demanding that more is done to save our planet.

What better way to protest about climate change than by saying it with cardboard? I wonder if they recycled their banner?

Tens of thousands of beer cans and bottles also lined the city’s streets. They were not recycled, just dumped.

Protesters also chose to criticise the Metropolitan Police’s ‘heavy handed’ approach but when you are faced by a crowd that can either shake your hand or hit you over the head with a four-foot metal bar, what do you expect?

Last week a banker gave the Review his account of the day and revealed that he and his colleagues were advised to wear casual clothes to avoid getting caught by the crowd. If this is not a mob mentality than what it is?

I wear a suit to work, had I been in the City of London last week would have I been attacked because I had dressed smartly?

Many moaned to the news crews about national debt but could not see the contradictions of their actions. Many were students who will have student loans which they will pay back at £4-a-week for the next 20 years. That annoys me more than capitalism.

In a capitalist system we, as employers, own our labour and charge our employees for the use. What would change if the system was overturned and how would it help us?

We do not know because there are no answers. The organisers will not have got that far because they know nothing will change.

Some would say that makes the protest pointless. But not to those who simply like wasting taxpayers’ money for no good reason at all. And for those who fancy a fight, such events are too good an opportunity to miss.

Martin Buhagiar Editor

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