A question for Nick Clegg on the G20 protests

We haven't heard back yet from the delegation of Liberal Democrats - Chris Huhne, David Howarth, Shirley Williams and Simon Hughes - about their efforts as legal monitors, aiming to prevent violence yesterday at the G20 protests.

Violence by the police, that is.

And we haven't heard from Nick Clegg yet about whether he agreed to this extraordinary delegation. Is the Leader of the Liberal Democrats saying that he doesn't trust the police? Or did his frontbenchers proceed without asking him?

We know he reads Comment Central, so perhaps he might like to let readers know his position.

What, then, of the protestors argument that the police were likely to be heavy handed, and so proved. Well, the demo on Saturday was legitimate and peaceful. Anybody who wanted to demonstrate was able to.

Everybody knew, everybody knew, that this was not the plan for yesterday. Yesterday there was scheduled to be a large violent element menacing people and property. The police were going to need to take tough action to prevent it.

Anybody who decided to join in would have been fully aware of this and would have chosen to go despite having had other chances to register their opinion.

They should have expected to have an uncomfortable time - penned in and so forth - since their presence was as much a support for violent uprising - whether they say that is what they intended or not - as a piece of protest on climate policy.

Looking forward to hearing from you, Nick.