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Human Rights

Certainly the police's job is to facilitate protest—as long as it is peaceful. The police must establish that balance, on human rights grounds, between the rights of the wider population and the rights of the protesters. So, a certain level of disruption may be acceptable, but there must be a decision made on the ground about, for example, when it is acceptable for protesters to block a road and for how long. A protest may be peaceful, but it can be very inconvenient for other people. There needs to be a balance. I am of the opinion that the problem must be solved by building trust rather than circumventing it. Bringing a third party into discussions would not build trust between the police and protesters. We are talking about one challenging case. We should not be thinking about changing procedure on the basis of one example.