Violence is ALWAYS wrong . . .

Picture the scene. You are confronted by a large man whose face is hidden to a large extent by a black balaclava. He is armed with a weapon that has the power in the wrong hands to maim for life. He has taken great care to make it difficult to identify him in the future. As you come under attack he is shouting loudly in your face and gesticulating with his arms and hands to impel you to do as he demands. In fact, everything about him is specifically designed to frighten you into a submissive state.

In many situations it would be stated without question that this man is terrorising you, and that, to that extent, he is therefore, what might well be described as an urban terrorist. You are afraid, and you need to be, for this man has placed himself above the law, even perhaps, some may consider, beyond the law.

Hoping that you will get out of this situation without serious injury you think about others who have been thus confronted recently, confrontation that has ended in death. Your level of fear increases and perhaps you are shaking now and feeling sick inside. Your one hope is to turn to those who are appointed to help you in such a situation --- the police.

That's where your problems really start to hit home! The thug that threatens your safety, the one whose identity is hidden behind the black balaclava, the one whose identity number has been taken off to further protect him from future identification, is a policeman.

Yes, this thug wears, in addition to the threatening black balaclava, a riot helmet and a yellow glow-jacket, both enabling him to look even bigger and even more threatening. Small wonder then that respect for the servants of the law is so sparse, when those who are appointed to maintain the law deride it so mercilessly.

One of the things that marks out the corrupt regimes of the world is that the corrupt leaders use the forces of law to maintain the front-line protection that affords them the opportunity to carry on their 'business' unchecked, and, generally speaking, unanswerable.

I say that what we are experiencing is unacceptable. The reason that I say this is that I consider that violence is always unacceptable, no matter what side it stems from. Violent protest is unacceptable, of course, but so is violent reaction from those whose task it is to lead by example when it comes to keeping the law. What do you think?