Have Britons become slaves?

Lilith's daughter has been charged for demonstrating back in June. I was disturbed about it then, and am again now.

As in the early nineteenth century, the people are effectively disenfranchised and have little other way to express their dissatisfaction than by demonstrations - in this case, holding up a placard. Do American police arrest placard-holders outside the White House, or is America still a democracy?

It's not as though we're putting the windows through in Whitehall, as in 1831 (Reform Bill), 1855 (against closing pubs on Sundays) and on other occasions.

When did the police turn from being a people's Watch to fight crime as normally understood, to a standing army whose purpose is to suppress the people?