Mayor In A Latte Trouble

Bristol Mayor George Ferguson has had his first taste – quite literally – of public dissent, as he clashed with an anarchist’s cold cup of coffee.

The incident occurred at the Anarchist Book Fair, held in Trinity Church, St Philips, which Ferguson had been personally invited to.  The red-trousered architect stopped outside to talk to other visitors and discuss their complaints and opinions, before being told by several people that he was “not welcome” at the event.

After professing his invitation and refusing to leave, an anarchist proceeded to hurl cold coffee in the new mayor’s face.  The attacker was restrained by a few people, but resisted the offer to shake hands in a truce.

All froth and no substance?
Photo: bdonline.co.uk

He yelled, “I’m not shaking hands with you,” and in an instant broke free and tackled Ferguson to the ground.

It seems the main problem visitors had with Ferguson’s presence was that he represented the ‘establishment’, though many refuted his policies too.

Nonetheless, Ferguson seemed far from bothered, laughing the debacle off in an interview with the BBC: “My trademark red trousers were covered in coffee.  It’s pretty surprising, it’s taken 5 months for somebody to pour something over me.”

As for the attacker, his actions appear to have misfired. Observer Amias Channer commented, “The central principle of anarchism is treating everyone with respect.  It’s put the cause of anarchism in Bristol back a long way – they’ve given him and ‘the establishment’ reason to fear and distrust anarchists.”

Anarchy in the UK…

The anonymous attacker also failed to impress his fellow anarchists, though they were sympathetic to his cause.  David Milligan, who attended the event, said “One mug just ended up making all of us anarchists look bad.”

“It did seem understandable, though. The mayor was going to an anarchist thing and trying to make it part of his society and community, when we’re trying to create a new society outside of his one.  It was an interesting political scheme of the mayor’s, and it was necessary to draw our line.”

You might lose your tamper, but this isn’t the right way to espresso yourself.