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That kind of destruction is no answer to grievances. What it is though is an expression of anger and frustration (usually) and when that happens in the context of a crowd, it can mushroom fast.
I'm probably the last person you'd expect to be violent. But I was just as eagerly throwing pieces of broken concrete at the riot police as anybody else at the Poll Tax demo. And I remember, very clearly, at one point, the part of the march I was with spilled into a side street where a police van was coming in our direction, moving slowly because of the people. For some reason, the mesh shield was raised, and his windshield was unprotected. We swarmed that van. There were people on top of it stamping, we were throwing things at the window, a couple of people were trying to stave the windshield in with wooden sticks that had once been attached to protest signs.
The police van backed out of the side street.
Now. I know that the man in that van was just an ordinary guy doing his job. Possibly with a wife and child at home, probably scared. But at that moment he was just the enemy. Because an hour earlier, I'd just seen one of my friends knocked unconscious by a police man when the crowd was still just shouting slogans. It was that event that kicked off the violence at that part of the demo (opposite the entrance to Downing Street). A big burly cop leaning over the barrier and punching a 17 year old girl to the ground.
A little later, as J and i were running down another street, there were a group looting an off-licence. We joined in.
It's hard to explain what the atmosphere of a riot is. It is a very peculiar feeling, when a demonstration turns into a riot. It's not like anything else I have ever experienced. Being part of a crowd action is weird, it changes the rules, it changes you.
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