Freedom and responsibility

From the railings of the Commons on Wednesday last week I watched a peaceful march opposing tuition fees.

When I reached my office the television showed another story. At Conservative HQ protesters were attacking Millbank Tower, smashing windows and assaulting police. A fire was started. Later a protester on the roof threw a fire extinguisher that narrowly missed a policeman.

I know that the issue of tuition fees is important. As someone whose mother and father had to leave school at 15 and 14 and whose own life was transformed by a free place at a grammar school, I understand the importance of education; not least its role in providing young people from poorer families with real opportunity.

But what happened at Millbank was a disgrace. None of us, whatever our politics, should take any satisfaction from it. People assaulting police officers and in the case of the fire extinguisher, perhaps committing an act of attempted murder is indefensible. The burning of copies of the Lib Dem manifesto was equally wrong. There is something chilling about the burning of books.

It is important to recognise that the vast majority of those protesting did so entirely peacefully. They have a right to protest — a right that I will always defend.

It appears that the trouble was orchestrated by a small group of anti-capitalists. Their involvement in the violence was well co-ordinated, partly through anarchist websites, and there are certainly questions for the police as to why they were not more prepared. The head of the Met has announced an inquiry and there will, of course, be many lessons to be learned. Not least that with freedom comes responsibility and that the violent acts of the mindless few involved in the riot at Millbank must never be tolerated.