Even if the guy was definitely a criminal, the police aren't there to act as judge, jury and executioner.
Even knocking someone away for just asking questions seems like bullshit to me. Given The Met's track record with unnecessary violence I'm pretty disinclined to believe their version of events. But ultimately it comes to a their-word-against-ours thing, and both sides are gonna be biased as hell, so I guess that's all beside the point.
You're pretty much spot-on about riot mentality though. It means that peaceful protesters (or even rioters who actually have a cause) are all lumped in together with assholes who are just looking for a fight :/
Even knocking someone away for just asking questions seems like bullshit to me. Given The Met's track record with unnecessary violence I'm pretty disinclined to believe their version of events. But ultimately it comes to a their-word-against-ours thing, and both sides are gonna be biased as hell, so I guess that's all beside the point.
You're pretty much spot-on about riot mentality though. It means that peaceful protesters (or even rioters who actually have a cause) are all lumped in together with assholes who are just looking for a fight :/