The protests of March 26th that resulted in over 200 arrests and the smashing of a bunch of shops in London (thankfully not Top Shop) were originally planned to protest the massive cuts to services the UK government has done to balance their budget.  They’ve cut services like refugee support services to almost zero (leaving me with little options for jobs like I had at ISSofBC).  Of course similar to the G8/G20 protests in Toronto – a group of idiots jerks people wearing black ruined it for everyone when the message became about violent protests rather than improving services to much needed populations.

It’s clear that certain groups of people are now willing to hijack large protests for their own purposes (if you can call ignorant violence a purpose).  I wonder what the next step is for civil society.  Is it time for what we think of as traditional protests to adapt to a new format? Is there still a place for large-scale peaceful gatherings that can make a difference?  Does people-power matter any more or can uprisings on twitter/facebook/tumblr have the same effect?

Or will the public finally catch on that all these people wearing black are just 2 year olds who want attention and have no real solutions for any of the issues they claim to be protesting with.