Grenfell Tower bonfire scandal – bad jokes should not be a crime
As soon as the furore about the burning of a model of Grenfell Tower erupted it was only a matter of time before Brendan O’Neill reissued his standard template article in response. Many Twitter users were sneering in anticipation wondering when he’d pop up to defend the freedom of speech of a bunch of crass idiots. Typical Brendan.
Now, I’m fully onboard in thinking that O’Neill is a tedious and predictable contrarian who has become self-parodying in writing the same article over and over again. However, I’ve been a little perturbed by the number of people who are happy to see the police target the morons involved just because they deserve it in principle for doing something so despicable.
Well, sorry, like a stopped clock, sometimes O’Neill’s template response is correct. Although I have no sympathy with anyone involved, this was not a sensible use of police time and resources, and it was another example of authoritarian overreach. Doing something tasteless and offensive isn’t a crime; neither is being a half-wit.
Six people have been arrested since the incident took place. One of the people involved, Clifford Smith, had his home searched for two hours. This was apparently to ascertain whether a ‘hate crime’ had been committed or whether there was a racially aggravated motivation. It’s clear to me from the recorded audio that we’re dealing with a group of racists here (“all the little ninjas getting it at the minute”) with some ignorant attitudes towards the Grenfell residents, but did they commit a hate crime and are their attitudes illegal?
The justification for the arrest is an overstretch of section 4a of the Public Order Act 1986:
Intentional harassment, alarm or distress
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress, he—
(a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or
(b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress.
(2) An offence under this section may be committed in a public or a private place, except that no offence is committed where the words or behaviour are used, or the writing, sign or other visible representation is displayed, by a person inside a dwelling and the person who is harassed, alarmed or distressed is also inside that or another dwelling.
(3) It is a defence for the accused to prove—
(a) that he was inside a dwelling and had no reason to believe that the words or behaviour used, or the writing, sign or other visible representation displayed, would be heard or seen by a person outside that or any other dwelling, or
(b) that his conduct was reasonable.
The intent here was to have a laugh, as deplorable as that is. The video was recorded in a private back garden and although it was posted on social media I hardly think they expected it to become a national news story. Crucially, it was not aimed at any specific individual with intent to harass, alarm or distress nor was it intended to threaten or abuse anyone. Morons recorded themselves being morons. The end.
The police have been far too keen to be seen to be doing something in response to public outrage. Crime may be up across many key areas, with London facing an epidemic of stabbings and moped robberies, but they’re here to respond to the public call that ‘something must be done’ whether it’s clear a crime has been committed or not. Even if the bonfire wasn’t a crime, perhaps they can dig something up from their private residence!
They may fail to deter burglary, muggings and stabbings, but they have a first-rate response time for offensive things people post on social media, and if people are offended just you watch them go!
Too many people have been enthusiastically cheering them because they want to see this nasty lot get their comeuppance – they’re horrible, nasty racists mocking a tragedy in which 72 people died so they deserve everything they get. Sorry but that’s now how it works. It’s not about defending them, it’s about defending basic liberal principles. It’s about knowing that allowing the police to abuse their power in this instance will leave us with little defence when they do so in another context.
The great shame of all this is that the Twitter storm ensured that this video was viewed thousands of times and received huge publicity. While this means the idiots who recorded it have been publicly shamed, it also created a direct link from the video to the people suffering the trauma of the terrible tragedy and is likely to have been shared and guffawed at by likeminded fools.
The public outrage and shaming was enough. The best way forward now is to stop sharing the video and hope those who recorded it reflect on their actions and learn a lesson.