The disgraceful scenes at the G20 protest reflect poorly not only on the drunken louts involved in property damage, rioting, trespass and assault, but also on the government. There can be no absolute right, in British society, to protest anywhere and in any numbers you wish. The right to protest must be weighed up against the right to work, the right to travel peacefully, the right to trade in shops and hotels, even the right to drive normally. All of these should be taken into the balance when a demonstration of this kind is looked into.
On this occasion the government, who issue guidelines, and police both got it badly wrong. G20 protestors, as Iain Martin points out, were allowed to get close to Downing Street, disrupt the city and close St. James's. Police did not, or could not, stop them from smashing windows and storming into buildings. It's hardly as though this trouble was not anticipated. At this dreadful time for the economy, why are we subsidising forseeable "unrest", as the BBC might put it, or crime, as I might?
If the police cannot contain the threat they should not permit it to gather in the first place. The route was far too permissive and the rights of the demonstrators were not balanced against those of city workers - or taxpayers. If the eyes of the world were on London today, the Labour government and the police dropped the ball.
