• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

World’s dumbest thieves try to rob bank in ‘high alert’ France. The public’s reaction is priceless (TWEETS)

Tracy Keeling by Tracy Keeling
7 June 2016
in Global, UK
Reading Time: 3 mins read
167 5
A A
0
Home Global
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

An attempted bank robbery took place in Roubaix, France, on Tuesday evening, resulting in hostages being taken. The situation was resolved within a few hours, with one assailant killed, and all hostages safely removed.

The hostage situation apparently developed after thieves had attempted to seize the manager of a local bank, to force him to open the safe. When police arrived on the scene, the bank manager escaped and the group of armed men took his wife and children hostage.

After an exchange of fire between the group and the police, a raid was carried out on the property, and the family were freed. One of the robbers was shot and killed, another captured in the backyard, and others are thought to be now on the run.

France is currently under a state of emergency, following the Paris attacks earlier this month, a provision which provides extensive powers to the police and security services. That these criminal masterminds thought France an apt place to carry out the heist under such circumstances is, to say the least, misguided. The plan was quickly ridiculed on social media as such:

https://twitter.com/Lauren_Southern/status/669254131417092096

https://twitter.com/LiezeNeven/status/669241138008715264

Roubaix is relatively close to the Belgium border, which other users proposed should invoke a particularly Belgian reaction:

https://twitter.com/iamPWK/status/669235538709233664http://

And some duly obliged:

https://twitter.com/AdrienJolly/status/669234155155247105http://

Others, however, touched on a more serious point:

You know the world is screwed up when there is some relief that a hostage situation seems related to a robbery, not terrorism #Roubaix

— Gabriel Barliga (@gaboss) November 24, 2015

Mainstream media also seemed relieved, or uninterested, following the discovery that the cause of the incident was armed robbery, not terrorism. After an initial flurry of manic announcements on the hostage situation, reports quickly waned, with most media outlets producing brief explanations of what actually transpired before moving on.

There were no follow-up pieces on why the assailants chose to carry out the robbery. No detailed assessments of their backgrounds, and how that influenced their decisions. No polls were undertaken, and manipulated, to assert that 1 in 5 bankers have sympathy for the robbers.

As a culture, we have become obsessed with terrorism, and the media largely hold responsibility for that. The areas they choose to focus on, and those they choose to omit, have a huge impact on what we believe are the biggest threats in our society. Emotions are still heightened now, with the Paris attacks a recent memory, but the risk of falling victim to a terror attack is in reality quite low.

A comment by local prosecutor Frederic Fevre regarding the Roubaix attack, however, sheds some light on why terrorism is seemingly feared above all other crimes. According to a report in News24, when asked about the incident, Fevre said:

“It was a criminal operation” and not associated with terrorism

The unwitting implication here is that terrorism is not merely criminal, it’s more than that. It is this mentality that allows governments to implement extraordinary measures when this threat is invoked. However, violence, or the threat of it, for any reason is criminal, and all cases should be treated as such. To do otherwise allows authorities to ride roughshod over our rights, and elevates terrorism to a pedestal it does not deserve.

Featured Image via Flickr Creative Commons

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

Black community protest police violence, racist white people shoot them (TWEETS, VIDEO)

Next Post

The small print in Osborne’s Spending Review that will cripple the NHS

Next Post
The small print in Osborne’s Spending Review that will cripple the NHS

The small print in Osborne's Spending Review that will cripple the NHS

Cowardly Osborne sneaks through tax credit cuts after fake ‘U-turn’

Cowardly Osborne sneaks through tax credit cuts after fake 'U-turn'

Climate change demonstration

We’re not really polarised on climate change – corporate funding is messing with the story

Latest UK deficit figures prove Osborne’s cuts are pointless and damaging

The 9 spending review cuts Osborne doesn't want you to know about

Computer hackers could disable Trident.

£31 billion Trident defence system could be neutralised by mere computer hackers

Jeremy Corbyn
Analysis

Jeremy Corbyn suggests a new party will be in place before 2026 elections

by Ed Sykes
21 May 2025
Donald Trump tax and debt
Analysis

Trump’s tax breaks for his rich mates could add $3 trillion to US national debt

by Steve Topple
21 May 2025
Co-op Israeli products
Trending

Pressure rises on Co-op board to follow through on boycott of Israeli products

by Ed Sykes
21 May 2025
Liz Kendall dodging a question about DWP cuts
Trending

Watch as Liz Kendall scurries away from a disabled person calling out DWP cuts

by Steve Topple
21 May 2025
Liz Kendall talking about DWP PIP cuts
Analysis

Liz Kendall just lied again about how many people will be hit by DWP PIP cuts

by Steve Topple
21 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Jeremy Corbyn
Analysis
Ed Sykes

Jeremy Corbyn suggests a new party will be in place before 2026 elections

Donald Trump tax and debt
Analysis
Steve Topple

Trump’s tax breaks for his rich mates could add $3 trillion to US national debt

Co-op Israeli products
Trending
Ed Sykes

Pressure rises on Co-op board to follow through on boycott of Israeli products

Liz Kendall dodging a question about DWP cuts
Trending
Steve Topple

Watch as Liz Kendall scurries away from a disabled person calling out DWP cuts

ADVERTISEMENT
Analysis
Nathan Spears

Vote for the Press Photograph of the Year 2024

Image by Burkard Meyendriesch from Pixabay
Feature
Nathan Spears

Why Santiago Ways is the Leading Choice for Walking the Camino de Santiago

Environment
Nathan Spears

EU elections point to growing public desire for new policymaking approach in Brussels