oh please innocent my arse yes some protesters are out to air their voice without intimidating others and without breaking the law but sadly a handful of people dont know how to have a legal and lawful protest without breaking the law and when they break the law they come in contact with the law and cry when they feel they were man handled if you dont break the law by not having a peaceful protest you wont come in contact with the law simples.
Words of wisdom BL, Big issues and yes, a very lengthy debate with many pros and cons.
Sometimes the police do get it wrong here, but it’s nothing like other countries, no matter what people say.
I think the day they start using rubber bullets and other less lethal means of defending the establishment is the day serious unrest will continue throughout the land. It’s better they kettle and control situations, rather than create martyrs that will draw hundreds of thousands to the streets.
The term “innocent” was a bit inflammatory 
But it gets people talking.
My dad was a police officer who deal with riots in Birmingham during the 1980’s, he did see some action and got a pelted. I remember him showing my his kit bag. They had table-leg styled batons, also he had huge riot shield it was like the sort a Roman solider had, I don’t think you see them any more. I remember how thick and coarse the uniform was, he then told me that was to make it fire proof - I remember at that moment feeling a bit worried about my dad. When I heard people were throwing petrol bombs at him, even at such a young age I knew it was extremely dangerous . He used to worry himself a bit, every so often he’d heard about someone being injured, put on light duties for a year or so and then being forced into early retirement due to illness.
My dad actually is very left wing, he was incredibly sympathetic to some of the rioters in Birmingham (1980’s) but felt their anger was mis-placed. That’s the problem though when things like this come to a head, it becomes all bout the few men on the stage and not the directors. “All cops are bastards” or “All protesters are unwashed scum”…etc, the media seem to wrap themselves up in too, just showing the same old images of police cuffing people and so on. A lot of the anarchists are deliberately very antagonising also, the police - well I can’t speak for them - but I can only imagine they’d be on edge, especially going by what my father told me about it.
Unfortunately though, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, some positives have come from previous riots. Protests of recent years have been incredibly mis-guided and lacking in objectives. These people may have been better pooling their resources in flyering, awareness and advertising, rather than fighting it out with people of equal or lesser social standing than themselves.
Some of the political actions seems like they’re just going to get caught right away - I mean seizing a building and going at them head on? - Yeah that’ll work!