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View Full Version : listen to the clash, get arrested


Bob
04-05-2006, 02:01 PM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=382039&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=


A mobile phone salesman was hauled off a plane and questioned for three hours as a terror suspect - because he listened to songs by The Clash and Led Zeppelin.
Harraj Mann, 24, played the punk anthem London Calling and classic rock track Immigrant Song in a taxi before a flight to London.

The lyrics to both tracks made the driver fear his passenger was a terrorist.

The words of the Clash track begin: "London calling to the faraway towns, now war is declared and battle come down." And Led Zep's Immigrant Song goes: "The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, to fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!"

Mr Mann, of Hartlepool, Teesside, had boarded the plane at Durham Tees Valley Airport when the flight to Heathrow was stopped and he was arrested by police.

He said he was told he was being questioned under the Terrorism Act and his choice of music had aroused suspicions.

Mr Mann said yesterday: 'The taxi had one of those tape deck things that plugs into your digital music player.

"I played Procol Harum's Whiter Shade Of Pale first, which the taxi man liked. I figured he liked the classics so put on a bit of Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song - which he didn't like. Then, since I was going to London, I played the song by The Clash and finished up with Nowhere Man by The Beatles."

Mr Mann said he was 'frog-marched off the plane in front of everyone, had my bags searched and was asked 'every question you can think of'.

He added: "It turned out the taxi driver alerted someone when I arrived at the airport and had spoken about my music. He didn't like Led Zep or The Clash but there was no need to tell the police."

Durham Police said the action was taken 'as a result of information received' and the flight was stopped before take-off.

i don't know what frog-marching is, but that aside, this seems fairly ominous to me. what a time to be alive.

abcdefz
04-05-2006, 02:04 PM
How can anyone understand all the words to Immigrant Song? :D

burbboi
04-05-2006, 02:06 PM
Poor guy got lambasted for having a good taste in music.

Bob
04-05-2006, 02:07 PM
How can anyone understand all the words to Immigrant Song? :D

or any clash song, for that matter. i listened to london calling again just now and i can't figure out what the hell he's saying for half of it.

Juan Kerr
04-05-2006, 02:12 PM
I just read this on the way home and couldnt find it on the net - nice one - its bollocks innit?
Imagine if everyone took it to those extremes .

If some woman called Eileen heard some bloke listening to Dexys Midnight Runners Greatest Hits - could she report him for sexual harassment?

abcdefz
04-05-2006, 02:16 PM
or any clash song, for that matter. i listened to london calling again just now and i can't figure out what the hell he's saying for half of it.



...their first album is ridiculous, as far as that goes. A record guide once said something like "The Clash have great lyrics, but you'll never know: words are only sent out to critics, and Joe Strummer sounds remarkably like Andy Capp."

Something like that.

Ace42X
04-05-2006, 02:30 PM
i don't know what frog-marching is,

It's where you have a guy behind either shoulder while you are pushed around.

DroppinScience
04-05-2006, 03:47 PM
He fought the law, but the law won...

STANKY808
04-05-2006, 03:57 PM
Maybe they were concerned he had a Tommy Gun!

EN[i]GMA
04-05-2006, 04:27 PM
Thank God he wasn't playing Washington Bullets!

The cops would have offed him on the spot.

STANKY808
04-05-2006, 04:32 PM
Like when they kick at your front door, how you gonna go.

I'll stop now.

EN[i]GMA
04-05-2006, 04:34 PM
Check the British bullets in his armory

STANKY808
04-05-2006, 05:02 PM
Ask him what he thinks of voting communist.

ASsman
04-05-2006, 10:12 PM
What a twat.

kaiser soze
04-06-2006, 11:31 PM
now THAT's some killer censorship!

Lex Diamonds
04-08-2006, 09:50 AM
This is ridiculous. I swear there was already a big deal over this type shit with NWA's Fuck The Police, and they decided that it's just art/entertainment, like a book or a film or whatever, you can't actually believe that this guy was using those songs as a guide to how to live his life.

Government dickheads. (n)