As if anyone still needed to know what the so-called Yellow Vest UK movement was really about, the moment of truth arrived, and the penny finally dropped, yesterday as another of their protests was, like that last Friday, captured on camera. It showed that the movement backed by Leave EU, Arron Banks, and all the rest of the happy Brexiteers was nothing more than a front for misogyny and forthright racism.
The result of yesterday’s incident outside Parliament is not only that we can be certain what this allegedly grassroots movement is really about, but also that those promoting it, explicitly or otherwise, have some explaining to do, not that they will be doing any such thing any time soon. The mask of those yellow vest protesters dropped as they decided to interrupt the work of Kay Burley and Faisal Islam of Sky News.
As the latter has told, “Whilst reporting that some pro Brexit campaigners in yellow jackets were shouting misogynist stuff at Kay and that I was ‘not British’ and ‘a rapist’ ... well done all who helped create this situation. Good job”. That, let us not drive this one around the houses for too long, is bang out of order. And it was not an isolated incident.
Last Friday’s effort by the group, during which traffic on Westminster Bridge was stopped, including an ambulance with its blue lights up trying to get across to St Thomas’ Hospital, included another unfortunate incident: one of the protesters was caught on camera - by a fellow protester, ironically - making a Nazi salute.
But, while fellow journalists like Lisa O’Carroll of the Guardian, recoiled at the scene: “This is just dreadful....@faisalislam one of the top reporters in the country subjected to vile racist abuse”, Thomas Pride pointed out “Disgusting. But ‘all who helped create this situation’ being mostly your fellow journalists Faisal. It's time decent journalists called out their colleagues who have been fomenting hatred in the pages of the national press for decades”. Not just that, but Sky News presenters themselves need to stop and think.
After all, this is the same channel which gave a platform to lawbreaker Darren Grimes, who then talked about voters “punching” politicians and that any move towards a second referendum - or perhaps that should be a first referendum without cheating - would “unleash forces in this country that have not been seen the 30s”.
Sky News should never have given Grimes a platform. As whistleblower Chris Wylie observed, “He was involved in a conspiracy to break the law. In fact, it was the largest breach of campaign finance law in UK history. So it’s pretty rich to let someone who literally organised a scheme to cheat in the referendum lecture us about democracy”.
The Tweeter known as Cockney Campaign responded to Grimes “You have ALREADY unleashed forces not seen since the 30's. On Friday, a Brexit supporter on Westminster Bridge did a Nazi salute. No police or press had arrived & another Brexit supporter filmed it. Mosley and the B.U. Fascists last did Nazi salutes here in 1939”.
As to the Leave EU connection, Peter Jukes reminded Faisal Islam “Colour me unsurprised. Leave EU has weaponised misogyny against @carolecadwalla and xenophobia for two years now”. The yellow vest protest has been exposed as a bunch of racist bigots. Now the media needs to stop giving their enablers a platform.
Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at
Oh irony.
ReplyDeleteSky "News" getting payback in its own far right coin.
Oh how we larfed.