The Countryside March (for example) is imposing a similar externality upon everyone else but not in the pursuit of profit, rather in the pursuit of the freedoms of speech and association.

Whether this is actually the distinction made I’m not sure but it looks like a viable one to me. You’re tryint to make money then cough up for the public costs of your doing so. You’re exercising your rights as a citizen then that’s a cost we should all bear.

Blimey. That’s one thing to cut then.

As to protestors having to pay the police….no. The police are the archetype of what is known as a “public good”and thus righteously paid for from taxation.

Point taken about bars, but football fans pay tax too, as do the clubs.

Arguably, they do. I mean to run a bar you need to pay for a drinks license which pays for police expenses etc. And if a bar has too much trouble then it risks fines/closure – which is a financial cost, obviously.

Come on, the G8 protestors were a load of middle class hippies, “protesting” with an i-phone in one hand and a starbucks in the other

There’s a difference between providing a free security service for anyone who wants to hold a large event and protecting freedom of speech, which may well be being exercised by those who cannot afford protection.

Why should the police be allowed to set kick of times and such like. Who voted for plod?

Now only the rich should be allowed to protest. I’m sure the farmers and the hunting brigade can afford to pay for their protests. Actually, the police have no problem with that, or the fuel protests because they support the protesters. That is why they sat back and let the scum block the motorways. You try doing that for on the left and see what happens.

Cos football is a private business whereas protests are almost by definition public?

And before you start sally. yes: farmers, the royals and politicians like his tonyness (jetting around the world and putting his entourage up in 5 star hotels at our expense) should pay for their own security.

Ah, yes. Like the UAF, who at EDL and BNP marches are distinguishable from their opponents only by having slightly longer hair.

Question by Steve O’Connell
“The Met police went over-budget last year largely due to the high cost of policing protests and a climate camp. Has the Mayor any views on how to stop this unfair cost on tax-payers by either reviewing how protesters protest or how police manage protests?”

Answer by Boris Johnson
“Public protests have been part of British political life for a very long time. The right to protest in public is one of our country’s great iconic freedoms: free assembly and free speech.”