I will try to resist the urge to go on a rant about my feelings towards the latest riots (besides many others have eloquently expressed their anger towards such scenes, not least Cranmer's reaction. I also appreciate that this blog has devoted a significant amount of space to the current fall-out about tuition fees, so I will simply concern this post with what to do about the riots going forward.
The editorial in the Sunday Telegraph mused today about how to police these protests going forward, but didn’t come to a certain conclusion. I would suggest that the government refuses to grant permissions for any further protests for an interim period. This would allow there to be a period of consultation between police and protest organisers in which protest organisers should be required to give certain assurances about the conduct of the protests, something that is clearly not occurring at the moment. It would also allow the police and CPS to further pending prosecutions in respect of the criminal violence and damage that has been carried out. These measures are vital, in that potential troublemakers would see the consequences of their actions should they consider taking part in criminal violence at future protests. At the moment, despite various arrests, there is a feeling that you can merely put a hood up and get away with murder. I use that phrase quite intentionally as it is something of a small miracle that on two occasions of complete havoc no one has been killed. There have of course been many injuries, some serious.
I accept that this suggestion is rather controversial. What’s more it could also be a tactical threat, as such a move could risk a further backlash from rioters reacting to a perceived heavy- handed response by the government. I think, however, that it is worth such a risk. The right to protest peacefully is of course of fundamental importance to our liberal democracy, but that right, granted by society, can be taken away if it is abused or misused.
This is entirely the situation here.
These ‘peaceful’ protests are nothing of the sort; they are being hijacked and turned into a gratuitous rampage and terrorisation of the public. On Thursday, the public were indeed caught-up; people going about their daily business (probably to work. Notice the irony of this - creating the wealth that currently subsides students so that they are free to protest on a Thursday afternoon) prevented from accessing Oxford Street, as well as many busy tube stations. Then there was the incident with Charles and Camilla – the climax of the entire debacle. The protestors must have felt that they had momentarily achieved their aim to create total anarchy.
Based on these public disruptions, we must surely use the tools we have available to us to restore order. If that means using them a little more forcefully than we would otherwise like to, then so be it.
The reason why I also believe this will not misfire as a tactic is because of where the public sit on this issue. These riots are not the poll tax riots of the 1990’s which reflected a society that was more generally growing tired of Margret Thatcher’s Britain. While some of the public may have sympathy with the argument against the tuition fee rises, they are most certainly not sympathetic towards the appalling public disorder we have witnessed. In fact, a straw poll of people I have talked to are particularly angry about the rioters. Further, as many commentators have pointed out, this could be the beginning of a long period of social unrest. After all, the savage cuts of which we hear so much about haven’t even really begun in earnest yet. As the saying goes, the worst is yet to come.
When the government has to make policing decisions about protests from those who have lost their jobs because of the cuts, then will be the time to make much more sensitive decisions. In reality, these protests have not been about social unrest, they have simply been an excuse for a young and violent minority to gratuitously rampage and destroy.
I believe the time has come to step in and nip this in the bud. There will be greater battles to come if the government and the police rest on their laurels at this crucial time. They must ensure order now to avoid greater, more bloody demonstrations in the future.
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