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@|³|MA3K
The reason why there is more trouble on CM now I believe is because its status as a commonly or customarily held event has been established.
Now that it is no longer required to give notification to Police for its jaunts about town and the controlled zone around Westminster the Police have cut the numbers of officers escorting the ride.
This unfortunately leads to more un-meditated friction points where now when cyclists block intersections there are no Police to back them up when the motorists start edging forward and revving their engines.
I think the Police presence was a pretty good thing overall for CM, in the main allowing people to exercise their rights and have a good ride.
Of course there were times where the cops behaved in a shoddy fashion pushing people about and trying to segment the ride into tiny pieces.
As for direct action protest groups trying to co-brand CM to suit their ends I think that is wrong. I just want to have a ride around the city every once and a while and not feel so much in the minority or vulnerable.
Direct actioneers are just selfish attention seekers dressing it up as philanthropy when if the were serious they would engage in politics and letter-writing, not stopping poor people going on holiday.
We live in a relatively stable country and our system of government allows for corrections in-line with public consensus that happen over time, they are just trying to subvert democracy in this country.
They are not the Pankhursts of their day.