When Did Democracy Become So Confusing?

I don't know about you but Gloucestershire Police's statement regarding their lost case over the 2003 anti-war protesters rights to demonstrate doesn't make me exactly comfortable. For 100's of years in the UK we have had a legal system that errs on the side of innocence- that is innocent until proven guilty. Unlike a system in say, Portugal, which is guilty until proven innocent. It is only now in the last few years that we have had a government which has confused those terms. Gloucestershire Police said it was "disappointed" with the decision, which it accepted, and added that officers acted in "good faith". It also expressed "regret" for any inconvenience and said it would now review its policies. "Policing in [such] scenarios is difficult and complex, with competing rights and responsibilities having to be assessed and acted upon in real time by operational commanders," said a spokesman. "Intelligence pointed to the potential for further disorder at the base and it was against this background that the decision was made to stop and turn back the three coaches travelling to RAF Fairford from London." - BBC News Not only have we now come to a point in history where the police have difficulty in determining what law to apply where when dealing with the public, we have a police force, when faced with that question, errs on the side of guilty. It is a good job the law lords overturned this decision. Perhaps the UK does have a faint hope after all, of not becoming a country where everyone is a potential criminal and public assembly and protest is looked upon as a crime against the state.