Unite against Unite Against Fascism.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8578693.stm

I was left trying to interpret the iconic imagery (in the link above) of a riot police officer taking and breaking a peace flag being waived by members of the not so peaceful Unite Against Fascism at a protest against the equally extreme English Defence League. But what does the image mean?

1. The police not wanting peace, rip away the flag and get violent towards a peaceful crowd of protesters who are shouting “shame on you” at police brutality?
2. The police not accepting that it is peaceful because they are being forced to physically engage the mob, symbolically drag the flag from them because they don’t deserve the right to wave it?
3. Or is it simply that the peaceful flag is a potential hazard, even an ironic weapon being used by a baying mob being held back by the police riot team?

Whilst it can be an image with many meanings, the reality is clear, the UAF are not as peaceful as they are claiming (or at least it is a peace in their unique terms) and the flag was a danger to the officers holding them back so had to be removed. I can never understand why so many so-called “peaceful protestors” engage in such antagonising behaviour that they need to be held back, pinned down, kettled, or arrested etc. The UAF have clashed violently with the police so many times, and deliberately attend the events of bigots to cause trouble. But their focus always ends up not on their target group (in this case the EDL), but on the fighting the police. If the police didn't get between groups like the UAF and EDL, the violence between them would be much worse. Maybe the real imagery then is that only the police deserved to wave the flag, but broke it in defiance because it was a symbol emptied of its meaning by hypocrites.