Some Things Never Seem To Change

Why is it OK for the people in power to beat up and detain the less powerful who are simply trying to tell their side of things? Why is it OK for the powerful to use violence, but not OK for those who are powerless?

From Climate talks deadlocked as clashes erupt outside by Charles J. Hanley:

Police fired pepper spray and beat protesters with batons outside the U.N. climate conference Wednesday, as disputes inside left major issues unresolved just two days before world leaders hope to sign a historic agreement to fight global warming.

Hundreds of protesters were trying to disrupt the 193-nation conference, the latest action in days of demonstrations to demand "climate justice" — firm steps to combat global warming. Police said 230 protesters were detained.

Hundreds of protesters marched on the suburban Bella Center, where lines of Danish riot police waited in protective cordons. Some demonstrators said they wanted to take over the global conference and turn it into a "people's assembly." As they approached police lines, they were hit with pepper spray, and TV pictures showed a man being pushed from a police van's roof and struck with a baton by an officer.

Clearly, no one is representing these protesters at this conference. Why not?