Caught on camera: The moment a royal guardsman attacked a tourist who mimicked his marching
A guard outside St James's Palace attacked a tourist who was copying his distinctive marching actions, it was revealed today.
The Guardsman, who is supposed never to leave his post unless there is a threat to a member of the royal family, was provoked into lunging at tourist Nick Ibarra, clipping him around the head and aiming a kick at him.
It is understood the guard now faces the prospect of a 'dressing down' from his superiors.
Colombian tourist Nicolas Ibarra decides to match the guardsman's steps outside St James' Palace
Mr Ibarra continues to follow and copy the guard
The student is having a great time impersonating the guard who does not seem amused by his antics
The attack was captured on film by the 23-year-old's friend Suzanne Cadosch.
When the Colombian student began mimicking the guard, he lost his cool and went for Mr Ibarra.
The Oxford University student also claims he was pushed away by the guard, who used his SA-80 semi-automatic rifle while letting out a furious roar. Ms Cadosch had stopped filming as she was so frightened.
Having had enough the sentry loses his cool and turns around
'I felt this huge hand on my collar and managed to avoid a boot up the backside but he was growling-like a bear,' he said.
'I was worried because he had a bayonet on his gun and didn't want that going somewhere painful. He pushed me away with the gun and I just ran for it.'
The guardsman, who is with the 1st Battalion of the Scots Guards of the Guards Division, was on sentry duty.
Clarence House where Prince Charles lives is within St James's environs.
The guard grabs Mr Ibarra by the collar
The soldier snaps and pushes the student away before noticing the camera and doing an about face
Ms Cadosch said: 'I just thought "Oh My God, he's got a gun and he's going for Nick". He grabbed him and tried to boot him.
'You often see people pulling faces at the guards and marching along with them but obviously this soldier didn't find it funny.
'In hindsight I can understand the soldier losing his cool but it was very frightening.'
A fellow guard said: 'You can understand him wanting to put a hobnailed size 12 up the guy's backside for taking the p****.
'But he will be in hot water for losing his cool when he should have ignored it.'
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said it will try to identify the guard and 'speak to him about his behaviour'.
2 comments:
The way the student complains he was afraid of the guard's weapon make me tick. He is implying the guard should not had gotten angry because he was holding a gun.
What angers me is the fact that the guard did not threaten him with it, he was just holding it.
So if that is enough to scare that student, why wasn't he afraid to mock an armed guard in the first place?
To me, this shows his way of thinking: he thought the guard had no right to get upset about the mocking (I emphasize "had no right").
These guards are mocked very often and have to get over it. It's bad anybody would make fun of them, and it's worse that people still do it though they know these guards must face this all the time. But it's a shame when people mock these guards and expect them not to reply in any way!
That student deserved to see the guard get angry at him, he would had deserved a kick to the butt, and his argument that the gun scared him has no value!
And what is it with this article?
"What happened to strict discipline and impeccable behaviour?"
Is the author condoning some form of slavery or submission?
As far as I know, nobody tries to protect these guards from the mocking and harassment they go through on a regular basis. It's a well known fact stupid tourists enjoy mocking them when they visit Britain.
So before blaming the guard for snapping at another mockery, and before arguing how important it is that these guards keep their self-discipline, something should be done to protect them from those regular mockeries.
I'm amazed they don't snap more often considering all the mockeries they go through and the fact that their superiors don't lift a finger to protect them from this.
I don't know what kind of human being can go through this and never lose their temper even once.
Thanks Peach for your comment.
I apologize if my description hurt your feelings.
What I meant about the 'strict discipline and impeccable behaviour' was something extraordinary which is over and above what we would normally expect, and that seemed to have been gone, from what we can see in the pictures. In other words, we used to marvel at their patience and self-control but now they are more like any of us.
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