"The man was positioned close to a small group of protesters and based on his manner, his state of dress and his proximity to the course, officers made an arrest to prevent a possible breach of the peace," Surrey police said in a statement.

  • Brainspore

    They can arrest people to prevent crime now? How forward-thinking!

    • http://codeflow.org/ Florian Bösch

      For the crime of not smiling. This friendly law brought to you by the ministry of happiness.

      • yadayada

         Yeah, I’m just lucky I didn’t get arrested about once a week between the ages of fifteen and nineteen.

      • That_Anonymous_Coward

        They didn’t have enough staff to provide security, but they full stocked the brand police and the smile police.

    • savagenation

      Actually I was surprised to discover the U.K. has implemented REAL Pre-Crime programs BEFORE Minority Report hit theaters (obviously the book is much older).
      They are using technology to predict crimes and can now arrest people with NO suspicion or reason whatsoever. 

  • bumblebeeeeeee

    sounds crazy, until you read that he had a bag of knifes. There were rubber ones for martial arts practices… but the police had to make a fast decision…

    • Brainspore

      Here’s another decision they could have made pretty quickly:

      “Sir, is that your bag of knives?”

      “Yes, but they’re only rubber. I’m a martial arts instructor and we use those for practice.”

      “Very well. Enjoy the race, sir.”

      • bumblebeeeeeee

        Oh, now all the eye witnesses come forward…

    • howaboutthisdangit

      Unless the rubber knives were visible, the police did not know about them until after the arrest and they could not have been a factor in the arrest.

      They just didn’t like the way he looked.

    • dragonfrog

      All they knew at the time of arresting him was that he had a bag.  It wasn’t until afterward that they searched it and discovered its contents.

      So, is possession of a frown and a backpack sufficient grounds for arrest?

      • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

        Depends, was he wearing a hoodie?

      • aluchko

        Consider this sequence of events.

        There is an Olympic bicycle race rapidly approaching, crazy protesters have caused problems before (men’s marathon in Athens) and a protester jumping the course in a bike race could cause serious injury.

        Now here’s a guy, in proximity to the protesters, sitting by himself and not smiling or showing any emotion.

        At this point going up to talk to the guy is just good police work. Now as to what actually happened. Did they talk, see the knives in the course of the conversation, then make the arrest, or did someone freak out and arrest him without asking his story first? And how close was the race when this happened, was it 5 minutes out, or was it just around the corner and the officer didn’t think he had time to investigate.

        I’m not saying the officer didn’t show bad judgement, but we don’t know just how bad that judgement was.

        • Antinous / Moderator

          Now here’s a guy, in proximity to the protesters, sitting by himself and not smiling or showing any emotion. At this point going up to talk to the guy is just good police work.

          No. It’s a bizarre invasion of the right to exist in public, based on the spurious assumption that everyone in the nation must display appropriate patriotic excitement for the jingoistic, tribal dog and pony show that’s currently bankrupting London.

          • aluchko

            All the people in that crowd have the ability to cause a major international incident. Now you have one individual in that crowd who really stands out since they seem completely uninterested in the race they’re apparently there to watch, I’d say a good cop will do something to make sure there isn’t a threat. Maybe watching them a bit more closely is sufficient, or  if not chat with them for a minute (I didn’t say interrogate, but you could get a sense with a friendly conversation).

          • Antinous / Moderator

            All the people in that crowd have the ability to cause a major international incident.

            O NOES! Somebody might do something bad that might upset somebody somewhere else! Let’s arrest people for not smiling.

        • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

          I’ll demonstrate how bad it was Aaron. 

          The Guardian article begins excerpts of the victims statement to a local paper at an “olympic friendly” point. Here’s the quote they ran with: 

          “It could have been done better. I was arrested for not smiling. I have Parkinson’s,”. 

          The Daily Mail doesn’t care who it offends, it’s a busload of drunk monkeys issued typewriters, but they print much more of what Worsfeld told the local paper: 

          ‘I was sitting minding my own business,’ he told a local newspaper. ‘Before I knew anything the police grabbed me off this seven-foot wall, threw me to the floor and cuffed me so all I saw of the cycle race was between the feet of people from the pavement.’ ‘It could have been done better. I was arrested for not smiling. I have Parkinson’s.’

          Mind you, this man is police-friendly, a former soldier and a martial arts expert. He isn’t railing against TheMan police in his bell bottoms and sandals, he could have made things very hard for them even at the scene. He was compelled to provide fingerprints, DNA, a mugshot and was detained for 5 hours.

          http://www.awtctkd.co.uk/userimages/Mark.jpg

    • http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird

       Cart before horse.  They had to decide to stop him before seeing the knives. 

  • BWJones

    An attempt to stop a “pre-crime”…

  • Chuck

    “THE HAPPINESS YOU HAVE DEMANDED IS NOW MANDATORY.”

    • Chuck

      Oops.  I guess the exact quote was “comfort” instead of “happiness.”  But you probably get the idea.

  • stillcantfightthedite

    “I sentence you to be hanged by the neck, until you cheer up!”

  • Daemonworks

    “Happiness is mandatory, citizen. Are you happy?” – the computer

  • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

    So… the group of protestors he was alleged to be adjacent to, they were smiling? In compliance?

    • savagenation

      Yes, because the Globalists love the Occupier Anarchists they can easily spot and control, but normal human beings with brains are their enemies.

  • oasisob1

    I’m very confused by boinger activity today. First you’re upset that police shot a guy driving a semi all over town like a crazy man, but then you applaud the police for arresting a guy who wasn’t smiling?