Quote Originally Posted by Kenyth
Suppressing protestors is nothing new. It's been happening as long as I can remember. Protestors have the habit of stabbing themselves in the foot to get attention. I don't think peaceful protesting equates to being a royal pain in the ass or a major disruption at an event. Many protestors will take things too far, given the opportunity. The local officials don't particularly like being embarrassed by disruptive behavior when the big guys come to visit. They see it as a reflection on themselves and their ability to provide for the VIP visit. A disruptive occurance, such as a wayward egg or tomato for instance, will make sure visiting dignitaries will avoid their areas for a long time to come. This leads to a little overzealousness with the local law enforcement. It also leads to taking advantage of the situation to squelch the protestors exposure by the VIP's people.

...yep - and then you get the knuckleheads who WANT to be arrested - they go out of their way to do it. It gets main stream press, advances their argument (that our country is becoming a nazi Germany), and they get to do the wounded puppy whine (exactly like that one first person press story DVM quoted)...