>The European Convention of the Republican Party in Mainz on Saturday. (More over at MDP)

800 of them vs 2000 right-minded citizens protesting their presence in the city

All very peaceful, as you’d expect – a well-structured police line to prevent the radical fringe from dishing out summary justice to the delegates and aRapid Reaction team, looking distinctly Darth Vader-ish, on hand just in case things got a bit hectic

Plus a few dressed-as-anarchists lads to provide the stroppiness factor.

It panned out exactly as Rupert Smith describes in his book The Utility of Force:

Act 1 Provocation

A couple of lads clamber up onto some very solid (as in steel-girder-solid) gazebos.

Act 2 Confrontation

Regular policeman (visibly annoyed) orders them down. (He did say “Please”…)
They ask why.
Regular policeman says pretty much “Because I say so”.
Discussion ensues, police mediators turn up, chat, chat,chat.

Act 3 Conflict

Drag them down from the gazebos, handcuff them and wheel them away

Which is never going to happen and both parties know it.

In fact, the lads know that they’ve won (and they know how they can go next time) and the law knows they’ve lost, so they back off and prevent other people from clambering up for a better view (which is what they should have been doing in the first place in they didn’t want a confrontation in the first place)

The Darth Vader mob (keeping a very low and professional profile) see that they won’t be needed today, so they move off to a spot in the sun.

And this is where I stand around in gob-smacked mode.

They’re moving around the periphery of the demonstration and suddenly these harmless looking little old ladies and their husbands, all covered with Peace buttons and what have you, rush over and stand in their way.

And when the Darth Vaders try and walk around them, they MOVE BACK INTO THEIR PATH to obstruct them again. And again.
All the time, their loopy mates are piping up with idiotic advice like “Don’t do anything until they hit you, Helga”

And I’m thinking “WTF? They’re not going to HIT them. What is the POINT of this? Just WHAT are they trying to ACHIEVE, for Christ’s sake?”

Then the light goes on.

Back to Act 1……