Students riot!

Whoda thunk it?

What's interesting is the speed with which Cameron et al get on the cop's backs when something like this happens - as I write he's on the news saying 'the police have admitted they got it wrong' - yet when protesters are injured they are much less ready to say the police mishandled things. It's almost as if the police should be there to protect property, not citizens, if those citizens have the temerity to protest. Whoda thunk that, either. (Note that this doesn't justify the 'rioters', of course, especially the idiot who threw the fire extinguisher.)

I suppose the wider point is that these events weren't the police's fault. The blame lies with the protesters involved. So this shouldn't be used as a way to lever in heavier police presences than there are already at many other demos. Police should be there to facilitate protest, not treat protesters as potential terrorists as they did at the G20. The fact that sometimes the demonstrators break the law doesn't alter this, just as the fact that some members of the public break the law doesn't mean that police should treat everyone has a potential criminal.