Mercury tilt switches, overalls, rubber gloves, balaclavas and coffee grinders are all innocuous items in the right hands; but, in the wrong hands, they can have very sinister applications.
We would see them on television galavanting around in balaclava helmets, challenging authority simply because they knew that nothing could be done; no one could touch them.
I understand that those powers were used yesterday in an attempt to identify many of the miscreants who were wearing balaclavas at the time they committed their offences.
It is wholly unacceptable—it includes using balaclavas and seeing the police as enemies.
It is not a criminal offence to purchase or acquire items such as gloves, balaclavas, overalls, two-way radios or walkie-talkies.
People wear balaclavas or crash helmets partly to avoid identification and partly to intimidate.
Let them not say that they have never donned a balaclava or uniform or manned a barricade.
The use of balaclavas, helmets and masks shows that some people attend these rallies and demonstrations with only malice in mind.
