Never hold the opinion that because you are elderly, or walk with the
aid of a stick, or are in a wheel chair, that the police will not
throw you around in their usual heavy handed manner. On Monday this
week in Sheffield, a group of elderly passengers decided to take
direct action to protect their travel concessions which were under
threat. The protest was organised and staged by a group of elderly
and disabled passengers in response to South Yorkshire Passenger
Transport Executive's decision stop their free bus pass travel before
9:30am.
They decided to travel without paying (their entitlement) and
called the journey a “Freedom Ride”. What transpired was the
usual heavy handed approach by the transport police, resulting in
pensioners with walking sticks being knocked over, elder people hand
cuffed, and ending up with cuts and bruises and some being taken to
hospital. This is how representative democracy protects your right to
peaceful protest. "Democracy" enforced by intimidation and repression.
Five rather heavy transport police manhandle pensioner.
This from The Express: They gathered at Sheffield railway station on Monday after travelling without paying from the Meadowhall shopping complex to the city centre in what they billed a “Freedom Ride”.
Jen Dunstan, of Sheffield Disabled People Against The Cuts, said: “Dozens of elderly and disabled people have been left with bruising. Some have cuts where their skin has broken from being pushed and shoved.”
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