As Lance Corp. Jones would say, “They don’t like it when you stick it up ’em.”

Two things caught my eye from the coverage of the recent anti-immigrant riots in the UK. The first was the guy who was face down on the ground struggling with police officers who were attempting to put handcuffs on him. He could be heard shouting “I’m English, I’m English.”

That fact that he was loudly declaring his nationality told us all we needed to know about his mindset. In his warped thought process, his nationality absolved him of all responsibility. He was perfectly within his rights to behave like a hooligan to protect his country from invading foreigners.

He was convinced the police had made a mistake until he found himself in the back of a police van and if that sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been dealing with the same bigots here. Our heroes wrap themselves in the tricolour which they believe gives them licence to set fire to buildings and assault gardai. Inspired by false information, they engage in criminality.

The second incident showed a big adult male, aggressively taunting a line of policemen in riot gear standing behind full body shields. At one point, he got too close to one policeman who shoved his shield forward knocking the guy on his backside.

Another character who filmed the incident on his phone focussed on the shoulder number of the policeman concerned. He shouted the number repeatedly, triumphantly proclaiming the fact that he had identified the culprit.

He was certain his evidence would have the officer hauled over the coals for his unwarranted assault on a peaceful protester and might even get him dismissed from the force. He must have been surprised the following morning to discover that the tables had turned.

Some of his counterparts were already before the courts and facing time in prison. He was probably stunned to find he had become the bad guy while the policeman was getting a pat on the back for a job well done.

Something else that might sound familiar too is the reaction of these characters in the court when faced with the wrath of the magistrate. There is a common theme – apologies, a sense of shame, regret and the usual lame excuses. It was the drink that did it, I was just following the crowd, I didn’t mean any harm etc etc.

I have been advocating for a tougher stance in this jurisdiction when it comes to civil disobedience, and I have taken some flak for it but I’m sticking to my guns. We have seen a gradual increase in the level of violence towards gardai during the so-called ‘peaceful protests’ and if this is allowed to continue it will only get worse.

I experienced a few skirmishes with small mobs in the course of my policing life and it was difficult to maintain discipline while being assaulted by thugs who had no respect for the law and didn’t follow any rules. Facing rocks and stones armed only with a piece of timber and a plastic shield for protection was no fun. Police officers should not be expected to have to tolerate that nonsense. 

Matthew Syed wrote a great piece in The Sunday Times where he gave some insight into what the police faced during those incidents:

‘In Liverpool, police officers, men and women, stood firm as a baying mob pelted them with fireworks, petrol bombs and rocks. Footage later emerged from a helmet-cam and it was like something out of a war zone. Frankly, I’d have understood if they had all fled.’

‘But these people feel an acute sense of duty, a recognition that public safety sometimes requires that they confront danger. Listen carefully and you can hear them encouraging each other as the missiles fly: “Stay strong!” and “We can do this!”

‘In Rotherham, police officers faced attacks with concrete slabs, fire extinguishers and a makeshift battering ram as they stood shoulder to shoulder against a crowd hellbent on entering a hotel to commit mass murder. Split-second decisions during scenes of utter chaos are the only thing that prevented an atrocity of an unprecedented kind.’

‘Officers were bloodied, one knocked unconscious, but they didn’t buckle. One asylum seeker was in tears as he paid tribute to those who prevented his lynching.’

What has been very refreshing is the public response to the tough stance taken in the UK. It has been hugely positive and that shouldn’t be a great surprise because the vast majority of people everywhere are decent law-abiding citizens. The peaceful anti-racism marches that followed in the wake of these disturbances prove something.

They prove it’s possible to stage a protest without causing injury to people or damage to property. It shows too that the silent majority can be a powerful force when they speak up. They delivered a kick up the backside to the anarchists and that’s what we should be doing here.

I said recently that our lack of police action is emboldening these miscreants and encouraging more outrageous behaviour. Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee said, “We’ve seen many hundreds of protests. The vast, vast majority peaceful but a small number where a violent element has tried to undermine our society.”

She condemned utterly and completely any attacks on gardaí and said any such attack represents an attack on our entire community, an attack on our very democracy and our fundamental rights. There was a serious example of that recently when An taoiseach, Simon Harris and his family were the victims of an online death threat.

You can’t get much closer to the very heart of our democracy than that. He has responded with a warning to social media giants that he plans to tackle online threats and harassment. That’s very welcome but it’s time to come down heavily on the offenders in the real world too.