Daily Mail perverts Occupy London rape case to damn all protestors
MALCOLM Blackman, 45, is accused of raping a woman in her 40s at the Occupy London Stock Exchange champ outside St Paul’s Cathedral. The alleged victim – who gets to remain anonymous – was allegedly attacked in her tent on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral. She further alleges that Blackman tied her hands behind her back with cable ties and on another occasion assaulted her in her sleep.
She told the court:
“He was part of a group calling themselves Anonymous UK. He was a welcoming sort of character, people turned to him and said what do we do about this, he seemed to be a leader sort of person.”
She said she did not tell anyone at the time because:
“I didn’t know what to do or who to talk to. I didn’t know if it was just me being naive and not being experienced in relationships.”
Mr Blackman denies two counts of rapes.
So much for the facts to date. Justice will run its course. But in the Daily Mail’s hands an alleged rape becomes a means to attack the entire protest. Louise Eccles tells us that the protestors lived in a “Squalid tent city“.
Really? Because Peter Hitchens told Mail readers the protst site was “a little too neat and tidy”. There were “lots of nice but rather silly people”. And:
But it is not actually squalid…
A neat line of portable lavatories is available from dusk onwards, and the campers are plainly trying to keep the area tidy. One, rather unskilfully, as if he has never seen a broom before, sweeps litter from the cathedral steps.
The Mail also told us of the “middle-class protest“:
Scores of people who camped at the entrance to St Paul’s Cathedral were happy to queue for global chain Starbucks’ toilets and coffee this weekend.
But that was before an alleged rape. Now Eccles says it was “THE PROTEST FUELLED BY BOOZE”.
Wine from Waitrose?
Activists spent much of their time at the St Paul’s camp drinking instead of protesting, the Old Bailey heard.
Er, no. The proyest was about occupying. They occupied. They can also drink. Or is Eccles advocating a hunger strike?
During the Occupy protest, between October 2011 and February 2012, some of those involved spent the days inside each other’s tents downing bottles of whisky, brandy and other spirits donated by supporters.
People drank alcohol. Scoop!
When they did attend protests, including those outside the US embassy and the Bank of England, they would return to the camp via ‘a few drinks’ in the pub.
Very civilised.
Giving evidence against Malcolm Blackman, the alleged victim said: ‘There was a lot of drinking going on. Malcolm would drink most of the day. Other people would drink during the day.’
So. Not everyone was drinking. One man was allegedly drinking “most of the day”.
And then Eccles damns them all:
In lieu of security, the camp had a ‘tranquillity tent’ where people were encouraged to go to discuss any problems.
How very squalid.
Posted: 26th, April 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
