Police investigate gang rape at Occupy Glasgow (Updated: Video Statement)

John on October 26, 2011 at 9:26 am

From the Sun:

Officers are hunting a group of men who entered the site in George Square, Glasgow, where demonstrations were taking place, early this morning…

“There was a gang of about three men in the tent with the girl at the time and she sounded as if she was crying while they were doing God knows what to her.

“Everyone is quite shaken up about this and there is a real concern that this will bring an end to what has been a peaceful protest.”

But the understatement of the moment award goes to someone named James for this comment:

this has really worried folk – especially the girls staying here. It is not something you’d expect to happen with so many people around.

Occupy sites are not safe places for women.

Update: Here is the statement from Occupy Glasgow about the incident:



I’ve listened to this twice and it sounds as if the sequence of events is this:
Rape occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning, i.e. late Monday night
Occupy Glasgow passed a resolution about safe spaces Tuesday evening (which I guess means they knew about the rape?)
Police are called after midnight, i.e. early Wednesday morning.
Police arrive around 5am Wednesday morning to investigate.

If this is accurate [see update 3, they screwed up their own press statement...twice] it means there was nearly a 24 hour delay before police were called. Now it’s possible the spokesman misspoke or that I’ve misunderstood him in some way, but if this is accurate why would the occupiers wait 24 hours to contact authorities?

Update 2: From the group’s Facebook page. The written version of the statement reads:

As soon as Occupy Glasgow was aware of the incident, police were called immediately and attended swiftly.

Update 3: BBC is saying the following:

The 28-year-old was attacked at about 00:45 on Wednesday in George Square, at the protest camp.

Contrast that with the video above and with the written statement on the group’s Facebook page which reads:

A vulnerable member of the community, who was not receiving the appropriate care or services they required by the wider community was attacked in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Now someone on the Occupy Glasgow Facebook page is telling me these dopes messed up their own press release:

They meant Wednesday morning. It happened this morning. Guess they were pretty tired and mixed the days up or something.

So I’ve removed some speculation about the delay in reporting this. Looks like these dummies, who want to remake the world, can’t even write an accurate press release. Not only did they write it wrong, they delivered it wrong to the media. Amazing!