'Police Standing By'

From the UK Guardian comments section on the storming of the London Conservative Party headquarters:

The police stood idly by while fires were burnt and stones were thrown finally perhaps they wont work while their salaries are cut and so are their jobs.

A quandary for the ruling class is they depend on the state to defend their privileges and power. But constantly lambasting public pensions undermines their power in the end because it largely targets Cops - not DMV workers.
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Or, maybe this is what more people are thinking in their heads:

Nobody will listen to peaceful protests, that's the problem.
It is a shame that it has came to this but more of it is needed if we're all to make a stand.

1'Student fees protest: 'This is just the beginning'- UK Guardian