This article prompted a letter the following week from a coorespondant who was unsure about whether protesters were largely peaceful or largely violent.Jay's response to the article:
The headline is grossly misleading in suggesting that the demonstrators were generally out of control, which was certainly not the case while I was there.
I saw only a couple of youths smashing windows at RBS in
BartholomewStreet and it was these who I may have described as 'out of control' (though I don’t remember using that phrase and actually these two seemed to be acting quite deliberately).
At that point in time, there were only about half a dozen protesters in that street, offering no encouragement to the glass-smashers. Its true that I said the policeaction in 'kettling' the demonstrators led to frustration and pushingby demonstrators who - quite justifiably in my view - wanted to breakthrough the cordon.
In retrospect - viewing the photos and videos - it seems it
was the police who became 'out of control', although by the time I left(actually to join the demo at the US Embassy) they were not being particularly violent.
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Tags croydon, greenparty
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