ABSTRACT
What happens on the picket-line or during a demonstration captures most public attention. This is the “stage” on which police and protestors alike perform. But it is a performance that usually receives attention only when disorder erupts. The image of riot-police battling with demonstrators is quite misleading. Rarely was there disorder or even disruption, even in this collection of operations biased towards the biggest and most problematic. By and large, demonstrators assembled at the agreed location, proceeded along the agreed route, held their rally and dispersed peacefully. Such problems as there were usually related to traffic congestion. For the police, public order was a recipe for boredom, rather than the exhilaration of battle. As with other aspects of public order policing, what is fascinating is how the police subtly extended maximum control over the event, rather than how they confronted demonstrators.
