VIOLENT protest is inexcusable and I condemn it.

Don’t get me wrong.

The death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minnesotan police was abhorrent and those involved have been rightly charged.

But this does not give a thuggish minority in our country the right to attack and injure police officers, desecrate monuments and damage property.

Those who behave like that should face the full force of the law.

It strikes me that this unprecedented lock-down has created a sense of unrest during what is a national emergency and some with an axe to grind are taking advantage of it, hijacking peaceful protests for their own ends.

All this does, of course, is undermine the cause.

I was relieved, therefore, that protests in Swanage and Weymouth passed peacefully.

Any discrimination based on race is unacceptable.

In fact, Home Secretary Priti Patel emphasised in Parliament on Monday how she’d suffered as a Ugandan Asian growing up in Britain.

But she’s overcome it and succeeded in life spectacularly.

The best we can all do is to treat others as we’d like to be treated ourselves.

I sincerely hope that no more statues are torn down, because where then do you stop?

Are buildings, schools, bridges or even parliament itself next, or, if that doesn’t have the desired effect, will people become the target?

The continual coverage of these protests, and the way some outlets are reporting them, does nothing but give oxygen to the feral element.

We know the ugly facts of the Floyd killing, but law and order must be upheld.

The right to protest peacefully in our country is an integral part of our democracy.

But, like all rights, it comes with responsibilities, and the latter are all too frequently missing today.