Thursday, December 11, 2008

What do you think you are? Some kind of a comedian?


'Austrian Clown' Arrested

Austrian artist Christian Eisenberger (1978) was arrested on Monday by the Metropolitan Police on the corner of Bishopsgate and New Street in the City of London. After a brief interrogation he was released, carrying parts of his outfit in a plastic bag.

Eisenberger, who is well known in Austria for his sculptures and performances in public spaces as well as for performances in the middle of nature, was walking on Bishopsgate, wearing a clown's outfit, when a member of the public alerted the police. Most probably, the reason for this was that Eisenberger wore not only a typical clown's costume with the appropriate clown's make-up, but also carried a belt around his waist fitted with brightly coloured artificial explosives.




Eisenberger, who was visiting London for 48 hours, commented that he knew that the walk through London would fail at a certain point, but to his surprise his visits to Downing Street, Parliament Square, the new Saatchi Gallery and the Tate Modern went unchallenged. The public responded with amusement and while some members of the public raised eyebrows, none of the security guards at the various sites took action.

However his freedom as a clown ended when he was spotted by members of staff at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) who stood outside smoking cigarettes.

Minutes later, exactly 20 footsteps away from the police station at Bishops Gate near Liverpool Street Station, eight policemen surrounded Eisenberger, handcuffed him, and led him to the nearby police station, having relieved him of his red clown's wig and red nose. Where the same performance earlier this year in Vienna caused only amusement, it goes without saying that walking through London's financial centre in an 'explosive clowns costume" will draw not only reactions by the public, but also by the police who will react swiftly.




Perhaps in these chastened times, tragicomic figures will draw attention
and will make people stop and think. The irony of this event is that the clown 'Eisenberger' was not only being a clown but he also seemed to be a potential threat to the public. HVS December 2008


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46 comments:

Merkin said...

Beautiful, simply beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Wait, the police strip searched him or something? The article isn't very clear...

Anonymous said...

Zest of lwtc247:

There's a number of convo points here.

This is just one: Roaming so freely so long.



"Gordon?"
"Yes"
"Paul at the MET Here. Listen, you haven't initiated an 'operation' that you've forgotten to tell me about have you?"
"[drops chin, opens mouth, breathes in] Operation??"
"Yes operation... you know one of those operations"
"No. At least not that I can remember"
"What about 'deception by war' - are they?"
"[drops chin, opens mouth, breathes in] Who really knows, but I don't think so. Why?"
"Our CCTV cameras are picking up someone with what looks like a suicide belt, and he's dressed like a clown."
"Well I don't think it's one of ours"
"So no need to interfere then - our boys are busy with damage limitation over the bust of the Ozzie porn ring"
"[drops chin, opens mouth, breathes is] He's likely harmless then. Perhaps we should just leave him be?"
"Yes Prime Minister"

ziz said...

Quite right to arrest him.

Bloody furriners going round stirring up apathy.

May I remind you it was another Austrian who enjoyed visiting furrin countries what caused a lot of our problems.

Clever people Austrians.

Convinced the world that Hitler was German and Mozart was Austrian.

ziz said...

...and he and his pals enjouyed wearing fancy dress as well.

Especially on holiday.

paul said...

to be fair, how do distinguish him from the other jokers wearing non functional suicide belts?
Very difficult job, modern policing.

Anonymous said...

All those freedoms and liberties we gave up were really worth the sacrifice weren't they?

Anonymous said...

For something distasteful go over to Charon QC's blog and and follow the link in this post, "about Tony and Gordo. Be warned, it is quite horrible, though.

Anonymous said...

Fareed Zakaria: Former ISI Head In Pakistan Says 911 Was An Inside Job

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19R9H01IB1s&eurl=http://911blogger.com/node/18763

Stef said...

It could be just me but the idea of a former head of the ISI, of all outfits, declaring that 9/11 was an inside job is just the slightest bit peculiar

Maybe born-again Truthteller Fareed could fill us in with some of the background details of all chilling plot masterminds who've come under the influence of the ISI over the years

Stef said...

Conspiraloon SOP #3...

Just because someone says something you want to hear that doesn't mean he isn't a dodgy c**ks**ker


especially ex(?) CIA/ MI5/ MI6/ Mossad/ ISI operatives

especially ex(?) CIA/ MI5/ MI6/ Mossad/ ISI operatives who appear on the Alex Jones show

Anonymous said...

Peculiar or not.He is of course correct.

Stef said...

Yes, I reckon so

but he's still a spooky, shifty twunt, pushing his own agenda

Stef said...

ditto for AJ...

Alex Jones

I
I
V

Genesis Communications Network

I
I
V

Adnan Khashoggi

I
I
V

Just about every dodgy intelligence network and genocidal mass murderer under the Sun

Stef said...

@anon

that's not a criticising of posting the Zakaria link btw

It's worth seeing, thanks

Stef said...

...I'm just genuinely having trouble figuring out what this ex(?) ISI guy is playing at

Anonymous said...

Stef,
I´m like you I trust no fucker.

why would this guy come out with this??well maybe to try and discredit the US government,apparently he gave an interview to Robert Fisk shortly after 911 saying something similar.

anyway some wee bits about Gen. Hamid Gul

http://www.historycommons.org/searchResults.jsp?searchtext=General+Hamid+Gul&events=on&entities=on&articles=on&topics=on&timelines=on&projects=on&titles=on&descriptions=on&dosearch=on&search=Go

Anonymous said...

Interview with Fisk here.

http://www.robert-fisk.com/hamid_gul_interview_sept26_2001.htm

Stef said...

The former chief of ISI, Maj. Gen (R) Hameed Gul has "predicted" that America would definitely attack Iran and Syria simultaneously in October.

...2006

Stef said...

For completeness' sake...


Former Pakistani ISI chief Hamid Gul appeared on the Alex Jones Show yesterday and shared his contention that the 9/11 attack was an inside job, laying out details that were censored during a CNN interview on the same subject last weekend...

Anonymous said...

For the record also General Gul gave the interview to UPI's Internationbal editor Arnaud de Borchgrave on the 26th. of September, 2001,,,I think?!

yep old Alex Jones,,to be honest I don´t know what to make of that guy.

Stef said...

Be warned, it is quite horrible, though.

nasty

and not in a good way


cf. Please help me write an erotic story about Gordon Brown?

WTF?!

paul said...

...I'm just genuinely having trouble figuring out what this ex(?) ISI guy is playing at

Maybe something to do with mr Obama's plans

Poor old pakistan, having wrecked itself as a US client, is now an embarassing nuisance which can't even keep its own people in line.
The crooked PM making some alarmingly peaceful noises about kashmir a few weeks ago didn't help.
This week it looks like India is the US's girlfriend.

And Pakistan might be for the chop

paul said...

yep old Alex Jones,to be honest I don´t know what to make of that guy

<begin loop>
new world order,bilderberg,guns, gold, bertrand russell, hg wells, ron paul,immigrants,trilateral commission, freeze dried food, god
<repeat forver/>

Stef said...

"Obama willing to invade Pakistan in al-Qaeda hunt"

would that be something like a snark hunt?

It's at times like these I ask myself why do the traitors in James Bond movies never realise that the Evil Overlord is going to throw them to the piranhas just as soon as they've outlived their usefulness?

Anonymous said...

Holy Fuck.Obama really IS one of THEM!

Barack Obama, a leading Democrat candidate in the US presidential race, provoked anger yesterday by threatening to send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists — even without permission from that country’s Government.

Standing in front of a Stars and Stripes flag, Mr Obama said: “There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again . . . If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will.”nitcanoldionall

Stef said...

That was last year

Maybe all those doves he's appointed to office will have helped mellow him out a little since then

Anonymous said...

thanks for the Snark link.Kinda reminds me of something,,,yes the war on teworr,,AlCiaeada and co

Stef said...

another Obama fan raves...

A Historic Moment: The Election of the Greatest Con-Man in Recent History

Anonymous said...

"nasty

and not in a good way


cf. Please help me write an erotic story about Gordon Brown?

WTF?!
"


It's worse than that, "follow at your peril

Anonymous said...

"Daniel James complains about his unfair trial"

Anonymous said...

For a few precious hours there was a sense of jubilation and victory on Sark yesterday as, on a bright blue day, the tiny Channel island celebrated its first democratic election after 150 years of feudal rule.

But joy turned to despair for many, and uncertainty for all, when the Barclay brothers, owners of the Telegraph and the Ritz hotel, reacted to their disappointment at failing to get their chosen candidates elected by announcing they were ceasing their multimillion-pound operation on the island and laying off 140 workers.

Last night two hotels, shops, and at least one restaurant owned by the brothers, who live in a castle on a neighbouring island, were being closed. The brothers' building work on Sark also ceased.

Gordon Dawes, the Barclays' Guernsey lawyer, said: "Sark will go back to what it was before the Barclays came and invested. The people of Sark have sent the Barclays a clear message and they feel they cannot work in a place where there is such an anti feeling against them.

"The true sadness of it all is that the real loser will be Sark and, in particular, its workforce. But the Barclay family cannot be expected to continue investing at the rate of £5m per annum. I find it very hard, particularly at this time of year, not to wonder about the old saying to do with turkeys and whether or not they would vote for Christmas; well it seems we have our answer. I am genuinely saddened. The people of Sark have spoken."

Anonymous said...

Oh, and another thing:

"If the key to prosperity is a centrally planned economy fueled by fiat currency, why isn’t Zimbabwe the wealthiest nation in history?"

From Gray Falcon

Stef said...

For a few precious hours there was a sense of jubilation and victory on Sark yesterday...

I said snark, silly ;)

I'm guessing you didn't find that article in The Telegraph

god, I love our free press

paul said...

"If the key to prosperity is a centrally planned economy fueled by fiat currency, why isn’t Zimbabwe the wealthiest nation in history?"

I am constantly impressed by the profound heartlessness of the libertarians. I wonder where they all live?

from thickypedia:

According to a 1995 World Bank report, after independence, "Zimbabwe gave priority to human resource investments and support for smallholder agriculture," and as a result, "smallholder agriculture expanded rapidly during the first half of the 1980s and social indicators improved quickly." From 1980 to 1990 infant mortality decreased from 86 to 49 per 1000 live births, under five mortality was reduced from 128 to 58 per 1000 live births, and immunisation increased from 25% to 80% of the population. Also, "child malnutrition fell from 22% to 12% and life expectancy increased from 56 to 64. By 1990, Zimbabwe had a lower infant mortality rate, higher adult literacy and higher school enrollment rate than average for developing countries".[35]

In 1991, the government of Zimbabwe, short on hard currency and under international pressure, embarked on an austerity program. The World Bank's 1995 report explained that such reforms were required because Zimbabwe was unable to absorb into its labour market the many graduates from its impressive education system and that it needed to attract additional foreign investments. The reforms, however, undermined the livelihoods of Zimbabwe's poor majority; the report noted "large segments of the population, including most smallholder farmers and small scale enterprises, find themselves in a vulnerable position with limited capacity to respond to evolving market opportunities. This is due to their limited access to natural, technical and financial resources, to the contraction of many public services for smallholder agriculture, and to their still nascent links with larger scale enterprises."
....
In 1994 Mugabe was appointed an honorary Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II.[147] This entitled him to use the postnominal letters GCB, but not to use the title "Sir." In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee called for the removal of this honour in 2003, and on 25 June 2008, Queen Elizabeth II cancelled and annulled the honorary knighthood after advice from the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom."This action has been taken as a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided"


He was a nice boy when moved into cash crops for export and starvation for his people, and the queen gave him a nice chocolate medal, now he's nasty she took it back.

Unpleasant as he is, he tried to do what he was told.
Being grappled by the mysteriously peripatetic humanitarian, mr Tatchell could be seen was the sign of his ultimate anathema.

Stef said...

I am constantly impressed by the profound heartlessness of the libertarians. I wonder where they all live?

Libertarianism is a strange old thing

I find myself agreeing with large slabs of what US Libertarians have to say, right up until the bit where they inevitably come out with something utterly cold-blooded and horrific

I suffer from no such conflicting feelings when it comes to Tatchell. He's just a twunt all the way

Anonymous said...

A: "British Facism - You're joking right?"

B: "Seen This? : 'Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, has warned the region there is no 'plan B' for improving its public transport.' then have you?"

'A' walks sheepishly away.

Stef said...

IMHO 2009 is set to be the year when a critical number of people are going to start smelling an awful lot of coffee

Stef said...

@lwtc247

are you alright there?

you're sounding fainter and fainter ;0P

Anonymous said...

<@:-)

Anonymous said...

Bang!!

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Bang!!

Anonymous said...

@ StefZ 12 December 2008 15:46

- addiction is a terrible thing.
residue of lwtc247

paul said...

the process is underway:

Gordon Brown today confronted Pakistan over its record of exporting terrorism, revealing that three quarters of serious plots investigated in the UK were connected to the country.

This astounding figure was arrived at by using the latest terror assessment technology.

Stef said...

"Brown has spoken repeatedly in recent days of wanting to break a "chain of terror", leading from the region back to Europe."

but not the "pipeline of opium", obviously

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Brown ought to tell the intelligence services to stop subverting countries (including our own) and remove the terrorist training facilities (just ask Webster Tarpley) from London first :p

Stef said...

Panorama

Monday 15 December
8:30pm - 9:00pm
BBC1 London & South East
Britain's Terror Heartland

Correspondent Jane Corbin makes the hazardous journey to the frontline in the War on Terror, the remote and forbidding mountains along the Pakistan-Afghan border. This is where some of Britain's 7/7 bombers were trained, where Britain's top terror suspect Rashid Rauf was apparently recently assassinated, and where Osama bin Laden may still be hiding. She meets those fighting on all sides, from US and Pakistani soldiers to would-be suicide bombers.

VIDEO Plus+: 8080

Subtitled, Widescreen