g-20 summit clash: where are the bobby cut-outs?

Over 4000 protesters took to the streets of London's financial district yesterday to express their anti-capitalist sentiments in honor of the G-20 global economic summit hosted by the city this week. The protest began peacefully but turned hostile as a few hundred protesters clashed with approx 50 riot police, who went about laying hat to the crowd with their signature truncheons. As I read further I started to ask myself, "isn't this a perfect time for the coppers to unveil their newest crime deterrent?" The cardboard bobby.


I can't help but think that any member of the brash citizenry who engaged in the bloody melee might have taken that extra moment to stop and appreciate the cost efficient measures undertaken by the British police forces if they had had a run in with one of these life-size bad boys instead of the real deal holyfield. Instead they got their asses handed to them and earned a free ride in the riot van. In any extent, I applaud the police brass for taking such a forward thinking step in law enforcement although it remains to be seen how far 28,000 dollars in die-cut cardboard officers will go in the line of duty.




Link to Asylum report


NY Times on G-20 protests