Ed Milliband Will Own Any Outbreak of Violence Today

In terms of weather it's not such a lovely day today as it was at the end of the week, but all in all it's not such a bad day for a good, old-fashioned, recalling-the-Thatcher-era demonstration. And indeed, it appears that a lot of people have responded to the anti-cut calls of the unions, if the BBC is correct at least 100.000 or perhaps even 500.000 public-sector workers are marching from the Embankment towards Hyde Park. If even the smaller estimate is accurate than the break away protesters, intend on violence and nihilistic destruction for its own anarchic ends, are a tiny minority. These hedonistic close-minded extremists are not latter-day Robin Hoods but class-warriors, attacking shops and even the Ritz hotel, not because these establishments necessarily support the cuts, but simply because they are, or are perceived to be, upper or middle class.

We can only hope - though if the protests last autumn are anything to go by, hope against hope - that those hundreds of thousands on their way to Hyde Park keep their peace with the street. I expect that by far most of them will, but the danger is the end of the day when, at once tired and full of spirit, the organisers tell them to go home but they have to wait to leave the park. Kettled by gates and fences, tempers on the rise, what little spark will set off the conflagration? We saw the same thing happen last time, when the end of the organised programme sounded the knell of peaceful protest and resulted rapidly in the setting afire of Parliament Square and the defenestration of the Office of Revenue and Customs.

If this direst of scenarios comes to pass, Ed Milliband will own the violence and the bill of public outrage will be his to settle. The Labour leader won't be responsible for the uproar - only those protesters who turn to violence will be responsible for their actions - but Mr. Milliband, by appearing at the rally, and speaking to the crowd, has aligned his party with the demonstrators and in the perception of the public watching the unfolding at home on the news tonight he stands on the side of destruction. To be true, this would be undeservedly so, but so it will be. So for the sake of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, if nothing else, let's hope again that peaceful protest will be the watch word of the day, and not violent demonstrations.