Cops Kill. Kill Cops. Cops Kill.
Barrett Brown was convicted in the City Of London Magistrates on Friday 5th November of a Section 5 Public Order offence, accused of displaying writing that was intended to cause people distress, namely the police. The writing in question was a banner that read Kill Cops.
Why was he out and about with a banner reading Kill Cops? It was a Kill The Bill demonstration, not only against the new police powers bill, but against the violence committed by police against the public, notably women, and most recently the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard by serving police officer Wayne Couzens. The banner was made in two pieces, beginning its life quite aptly as Cops Kill.
Many legal arguments were heard. Barrett insisted on not knowing that the two-piece banner, that started off as Cops Kill, had been rearranged as Kill Cops. It was the truth, but the District Judge didn’t believe him one bit. Barrett made no bones whatsoever about his hatred of the police and the state, using his time on the stand to not only run rings around the prosecution’s pathetic attempt at appealing to the emotional circumstance of the banner being displayed nearby the location of PC Keith Palmer’s murder in 2017, but took every opportunity to explain why even though he did not create the banner or know of its ulterior purpose, he did not disagree with the redirection of violence toward those that currently enforce it on the oppressed. Unfortunately in the end the judge was swayed by the tugging of heartstrings, and decided that Barrett did intend to cause distress to the (absent and non-existent) officers.
It is notable that during the demonstration not one police officer on the front line objected to the displaying of Kill Cops. The court heard from the acting bronze commander that not one report had been put through the command chain. And video footage as well as witnesses on the stand proved that not one officer made any attempt to remove the banner or enforce any arrest.
It is in essence a prosecution that should never have been taken. No investigation was launched until the right wing got hold of the police on social media, particularly Twitter, creating outrage and demanding that a case be launched to hunt down the (proud) reprobates who had created such a furore. Barrett unfortunately was the only one not wearing a mask to prevent covid/disguise his identity, and as an enemy of the far-right in the United States, was quickly doxxed and his details were sent to the Met by the alt-right maggot Andy Ngo.
As Barrett’s lawyer laid out, the distress had to have happened at the time and in the moment. People getting upset over social media by a photo could not constitute the distress. Ken Marsh, head of the National Police Officers Federation looked a prat as he sobbed of the pain and hurt, yet was caught with his pants down as it was put to him that his own Twitter account had distributed the image without regard for the supposed distress it might cause the police officers that followed his account. But while the judge conceded this, he allowed the notion of an abstract cop that may have had their feelings hurt to facilitate the conviction.
Kill Cops. Is this a call to action? Or an expression of frustration at the continual and ongoing abuse of the population, especially certain demographics, by those who see themselves as superior? Fuck em. They may be above the law, but we exist outside it. Kill cops. Kill judges. Cops kill. Judges kill. Bet no-one talks about the number of deaths caused by rulings imposed by the judiciary do they?
