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How far did the Liberal government respond in a rational way to the increasing level of suffragette violence, in order to maintain law and order?

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Downloads to date: N/A | Words: 1100 | Submitted: 2007-01-26

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“Black Friday” was a march outside the houses of parliament in 1910. It was named “Black Friday” because of the abuse the protesters suffered at the hand of the police. Instead of being arrested the protesters were subjected to both physical and sexual abuse by the police. It was argued in the defence of the police that they were too inexperienced in handling suffragette demonstrators, and they were used to handling the rough tough working class of the east end. However some historians argue that it was a direct result of the domestic ideology of Victorian Edwardian Britain, whereby, respective women remained in the private sphere of home, and only men and prostitutes entered the public sphere. And as they were protesting outside a male parliament they were seen no better then prostitutes. However it became clear that the police were ordered to do this rather then arrest the suffragette demonstrators. This was tactic was put in place by the Liberal government to take away their dignity. However this tactic backfired and the police were subjected to an investigation, and gave sympathy to the suffragette movement, and was probably not a rational response.
The Liberal government started imprisoning suffragettes who broke the law. At first imprisoned suffragettes were given “first division” treatment and awarded the states of political prisoners and treated well. But after 1908 when violence started escalating they were placed in the “second division” and treated as criminals and had their privileges taken away.
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