this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2025

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Malicious Compliance

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[Video] Cops not sure whether to arrest man with "Plasticine Action" shirt for supporting terrorism (i.imgur.com)

submitted 8 months ago by IndustryStandard@lemmy.world to c/maliciouscompliance@lemmy.world

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[–] wulrus@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (4 children)

To be fair, the (good) British cops are by far not as likely to assault an innocent person as many others. But they do love to stop you and have a chat if even the tiniest thing stands out. I once walked around London, 15 years old, with toy handcuffs on one wrist. Cop came up to me and wanted to know the whole story, like one of those super-chatty people. Where are you from, how old, name, where are the cuffs from, why am I wearing them right now at this moment, ...

He seemed happy with the answers, and we both moved on.

Well, it's still a bother, especially when you are not free to walk away at any moment.

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[–] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 months ago (5 children)

This guy got de-arrested

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/18/protester-arrested-wearing-plasticine-action-t-shirt-palestine-gaza-protest

Hopefully everyone will buy these t-shirts just to take the piss

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

About five minutes later, the arresting officer approached him again. “He said: ‘I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.’ I said: ‘What’s the good news?’ He said: ‘I’m de-arresting you.’

“And I said: ‘What’s the bad news?’ He said: ‘It’s going to be really embarrassing for me.’ And then I walked free, while all the real heroes are the people that are actually getting arrested.”

The officer seems to understand his mistake at least

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

The poor copper lost all that time arresting a guy with Plasticine Action on his t-shirt only to have to de-arrest him when he could've been arresting an old lady with the words "Palestine Action" written down on a piece of paper for her to be prosecuted and maybe even get a jail sentence.

That mistake was making it hard for him to make his quota of arrests for that week, the poor bloke.

[–] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (18 children)

This is why I always imagine it'd be funny to ask a cop "so how many murders got solved this week?" whenever they're wasting time on mundane shit.

I've never had an interaction with a cop where they didn't make it unnecessarily intense.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Their job is not to solve crimes, their job is to get people convicted, the subtle difference being that they'll turn non-crimes into crimes (for example, they'll chose to legally interpret things which can go both ways as crimes which require prosecution, which is why one often sees kids criminalized for childish bullshit) and it doesn't matter if the person convicted is innocent, all that matters is that somebody got convicted (so, for example, they won't try and find exonerating evidence).

This partly explains their tendency to take an adversarial posture towards people who aren't from their group, also partly explained because that posture itself indirectly feeds back on them (people are weary of them because of how act towards the general public, which in turn makes them feel apart and suspicious hence they behave even more so) and partly because they do tend to get exposed far more than most people to the seedy side of humanity all with a judgemental mindset and an aim to see crimes, so even a lot of the stuff they see which most people think is just silly fun (say, most drunkenness), they'll see as crimes.

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[–] Metostopholes@midwest.social 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Not fans of claymation, I guess.

[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

Not fans of AI, actually. Under the Plasticine Action, it says "WE OPPOSE AI GENERATED ANIMATION"

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

We need the Pingu version of V for Vendetta.

Noot noot!

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[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Palestinian Faction is still allowed, no?

[–] bear@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 8 months ago

Would have also taken Pleistocene reaction.

[–] Trebuchet@europe.pub 0 points 8 months ago

Scot Squad in action

[–] ExhaleSmile@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Pardon my ignorance, but is wearing a shirt with the word Palestine on it and arrestable offense in England?

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 0 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Palestine Action yes. An activism organization called Palestine Action was classified as a terrorist organization a few weeks ago by the UK government.

[–] ExhaleSmile@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Ah, thanks for the explanation

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Some people of Palestine Action threw ink on a military plane parked on some airbase which is normally used for the surveillance flights of Gaza that the UK is doing to give the data to Israel, hence they were officially classified by the Home Secretary - Yvette Cooper - as "terrorist group" via a process which has no strict well defined criteria or Judicial oversight at all.

Because of that anybody who supports them in any way (including merelly voicing their support for them or holding a written paper with the name of the group) risks a prison sentence of (if I remember it correctly) up to 10 years.

Hence in the UK wearing a t-shirt with the words "Palestine Action" in it is a terrorist offense with a prision sentense of up to 10 years: it's all pretty similar to the legislation Putin has to stop people in Russia demonstrating against the invasion of Ukraine, only I believe the prison sentences in Russia are actually lower.

Britain is a complete total authoritarian clown shown nowadays, though this shit is a pretty natural stage in the evolution of authoritarianism and represssion masquerading as Rule Of Law over there since around Tony Blair's time.

[–] sad_detective_man@leminal.space 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)

so weird how we've mangled the word terrorism around to mean impeding a military machine or body. maybe this is just by brain turning to worm food but I could have swore it was explicitly when you kill civilians or destroy infrastructure in order to coerce a policy change. but that alteration probably wasn't intentional or for any specific purpose.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

By an amazing coincidence over-broad legislation made on top of a legally undefined word ended up used against things and groups which weren't at all the claimed targets of that legislation.

This was also totally unexpected and nobody could ever had foreseen how they could be leveraged for such uses when those laws were first drafted and approved.

[–] sad_detective_man@leminal.space 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Hopscotching backward time and time again into fascism because we laser focused on bad words and not the actual languages of power.

at least it looks like the guy in the video got off the hook by simply swapping a word around so there's that. kind of funny in the context of what you said

[–] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 0 points 8 months ago

The War on [undefined]

[–] Steve@startrek.website 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

25 years ago, the day I stopped watching TV news- the dramatic talking head told me that terrorists had attacked a US military base in Afganistan.

[–] sad_detective_man@leminal.space 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

oof. yeah. I don't like pointing at 9/11 and dessert storm as the time when it changed but it REALLY seems like that was when it changed. I was 9 and got in a lot of trouble for not saying the pledge of allegiance and even though I was way to young to have a real opinion bback then you really can't fault anyone for coming to the conclusion that we might be the fucking baddies

[–] Steve@startrek.website 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That was when I first noticed that word being abused so egregiously. I wouldn’t be surprised if it started before that.

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[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah it's supposed to be the use of violence to spread fear, usually for some political aim. I guess we're counting "violence" against property now too 🙄

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[–] Aqarius@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Eh. 100 years ago, "terrorism" meant "assassinating royalty".

[–] sad_detective_man@leminal.space 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

did it actually? that is interesting.

ohhhh because it was coined during the French revolution. I should have guessed

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[–] obinice@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

They graffitied two planes in protest against England's support of Israel's genocide, which makes them evil dangerous terrorists!

Not that I'd support them of course, I'm no terrorist - I fully support whatever genocides my country wants to participate in please do not gulag me Kid Starver oh no he's in the hou

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Y'all seem to have a lot going on across the pond, what with "who's a terrorist," or "is this dystopian?"

Have y'all considered electing a terrorist leader so that you instantly know the answers to those questions?

We are all domestic terrorists

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 0 points 8 months ago

Ah yes, the accelerationist approach. Fight fire with fire, etc. Let's see how it pans out!

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[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

It is now!

[–] Acamon@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

Pretty sure that's Scotland, not England (Glasgow to be specific). But yeah, the British government decided carrying a Palestine Action sign was basically terrorism.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

But it doesn't even say that.

[–] ExhaleSmile@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

I'm aware. He was being harassed for something similar which was why I asked

[–] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 0 points 8 months ago (5 children)

In what other profession are you allowed to just stand there in public with a constant hand on someone?

[–] JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

Who is Donald Trump on Jeffrey Epstein’s island, Alex.

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Anyone else clueless as I am? I'm not in a position to turn on sound if there is any

[–] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

They aren't saying anything, but here's the context. The UK criminalized pro-Palestinian slogans in public. Namely the "Support Palestine Action" slogan. They recently arrested a bunch of people for peacefully protesting while wearing/carrying things that had this slogan on them.

This guy has a shirt that says "Support Plasticene Action" which, notably, does not reference Palestine at all though the words have an aesthetic similarity to the Palestine slogan. So the pigs are trying to see if they can arrest him for hate speech or not.

[–] AlDente@sh.itjust.works 0 points 8 months ago

This is close, but it is specifically in regards to a group called Palestinian Action, not Palestine or Palestinian people in general. The British government declared the group Palestine Action a terrorist group, and there is a preexisting law from 2000 which makes it illegal to support 'terrorist groups'.

Of course the whole thing is ridiculous (Palestinian Action has never even hurt anyone), and many people have been publicly supporting Palestinian Action in protest. Over 500 people were arrested at a protest on the 10th.

[–] arin@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

How is supporting a victim of war crimes 'hate speech'?

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Not hate speech. Terrorism. Punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

[–] arin@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

How is showing sympathy to victims of genocide considered terrorism?

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 0 points 8 months ago

Because the world has totally gone to shit.

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[–] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 0 points 8 months ago

Because Fascism doesn't care about truth or reason

[–] sirico@feddit.uk 0 points 8 months ago

Why not just get a load of stickers and slap em on every car bus etc flood the streets

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Someone should make a TMHT shirt with "Plastron Action" on it.

I won't, 'cause I don't live in the UK.

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[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 0 points 8 months ago

Picture yourself in a train in a station

With Palestine porters with looking glass ties

[–] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (8 children)

It’s already working. Due to the terrorism claims, each of these arrests requires a special review, and the system is being overwhelmed. Get a few more hundred or thousands of people to get an arrest for this, and the whole government scheme will have to be abandoned, because there will be no practical way for system to follow the required procedures for each case.

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[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (37 children)

I've got a friend trying to move from the United States to England to escape our current shit show, and I've been telling him that England tends to do what America does, just with a posh accent to give it an air of legitimacy.

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[–] creamlike504@jlai.lu 0 points 8 months ago (3 children)

What's going on with the guy with a plaid shirt and baseball cap?

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Could be a friend or a member of the public joining to observe, get contact info, identify where the guy would be taken, coordinate jail support, etc...

Idk if that's a thing in the UK tho.

Could just as well be malicious. Can't know without further evidence.

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