The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 740 - 355: Britain’s Perilous Situation

Protest, shouts, an angry crowd.

From time to time, a volley of stones thrown from the crowd, clanging against the iron railings and windows.

This was the true situation near the Apsley House at No. 1 London in recent times.

"Beep!!!

A piercing police whistle tore through the sky, followed by a series of hasty, scattered clatters of hard boots on puddles.

Someone in the crowd screamed, "The blue devils are here!"

Upon hearing this, the protesting crowd that had just been venting their dissatisfaction in the pouring rain instantly became a chaotic mess.

Seeing this, the protest leader standing on a wooden box speaking loudly hurriedly howled, "Don’t be afraid! Let us unite, those lapdogs of the government, those police from Scotland Yard will not take us down! Let them see the strength of our united workers!"

However...

Although his words were eloquent, expecting untrained civilians to stand up to the police with just a speech was simply wishful thinking.

The gentleman with the worn felt hat and slightly reddened nose hadn’t even managed to shout a second slogan when he was surrounded by the police advancing in formation.

In an instant, four or five police officers had him pinned to the ground, and the wooden box he had been standing on was kicked away by the officers who followed.

He was pinned down so fiercely his nose was nearly squished into the cracks of the pavement; it seemed in a single breath, his hands were fastened with quick handcuffs.

"You shameless bunch, you’ve sold your souls to the devil! You wag your tails and bark in a friendly manner to him, and the reason you grovel so low is just for a few crumbs of dark bread that fall through his fingers!"

The protest leader screamed madly, struggling to rise, but what answered him was the rain of blows from the Civilization Cane.

And with the leader and organizer down, the crowd of protesters quickly became like a flock of sheep without their shepherd, scrambling in panic to slip through any gap in the police cordon they could find.

If there could be said to be any stroke of luck on this unfortunate day, it was that the police happened to leave behind many such gaps.

And for this, thanks must be given to the riot control officer leading the team today, the young but experienced enemy of the people—Mr. Arthur Hastings.

Giving the protesters ample opportunity to escape, leaving enough gaps in the precisely organized cordon.

This was Mr. Arthur Hastings’s riot control principle, and the latest amendment in the 1832 edition of the "Greater London Police Department Public Order Management Manual."

That being said, regarding how overnight he went from a praised star in the London police to public enemy number one, Arthur didn’t care to explain too much.

In this regard, The Times and The Guardian were the main culprits.

Since he acted as the police’s representative from the London Prosecutor’s Office previously, helping the Home Office indict thousands of participants in the Swin riots, reporters from Fleet Street bestowed upon him such a shining new label.

The reputation of Western reporters for acting on hearsay almost found perfect confirmation in these individuals.

With their sources, they certainly would have known very early on that His Majesty the King was to pardon most of the rioters sentenced to hanging, but this did not prevent them from turning the trials into big news before the pardon was finalized.

Worse still, as the heat around Arthur was fading and the royal pardon became a certainty, a new wave of parliamentary reform began to surge again.

Since Scotland Yard had not been established for long, there was an acute shortage of police commanders with adequate riot experience, and the Home Office, fearing that heavy-handed tactics might escalate the situation further, dared not let most of the senior officers who had been serving in the Army take rapid action. Therefore, they turned their attention once again to Arthur, who had performed well in previous riot control activities. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

And so it was that Arthur, who had barely gotten away from the front lines of the hard work, got conscripted by the Home Office once more, appointed to oversee the riot control in key areas of West London.

As to why Arthur was only responsible for West London and not the entire situation, the only reasonable explanation was: West London was where most of the officials and dignitaries of London resided.

And the residential area of the officials and dignitaries meant West London had a better chance of exposure; thus, the ’enemy of the people’ trend that Arthur had just managed to suppress flared up again.

If it were only those who had been hit with sticks cursing him, that would have been bearable, after all, they really did face the baton.

Being criticized by The Guardian was something Arthur could accept, given that it had been advocating for parliamentary reform for a long time.

But if even The Times, of such repute, wouldn’t stop carping, that made Arthur rather unhappy.

Because he enjoyed reading newspapers and had a good memory, he still clearly remembered that The Times had been a staunch opponent of parliamentary reform just over six months ago, but now it had seemingly transformed, assuming the moral high ground and pointing fingers at others from a pedestal of liberty and progress, acting as though it had always been there, rather than just climbing up.