Water charges protest - Attack on President crossed a line

ONE of the privileges of living in this democracy is that you have a right to protest, to disagree and to expect that your arguments be considered. 

One of the prices we pay to enjoy that privilege — it would be idealistic but naive to imagine it a right— is that protest remains civilised, peaceful and does not step across the line in terms of personal abuse, incitement to hatred or violence.

Those boundaries have been breached at least twice by those opposed to water charges. The first high-profile instant was last November when Tánaiste Joan Burton was trapped in her car for over three hours by demonstrators in Jobstown, Tallaght, Dublin.