Well-Respected Scholar Attacked by Police

It has come to my attention that, over there in the land which probably should have been left undiscovered, a number of law enforcement officials took it upon themselves to batter an (apparently highly intimidating ) university lecturer who had accidentally broken important local customs relating to the crossing of public roads.

Now this attack is not something that I am automatically opposed to per se, it does seem quite unnatural that university staff in general have grown too accustomed to the security which comes from not being regularly molested and attacked by an angered student body, but I am perplexed by popular reaction to the incident. Just look at the commentary inspired by this relatively placid editiorial by the man in question, Professor Fernandez-Armesto. It would appear that (quite predictably) the majority of great unwashed hate anyone who has half a brain or a hint of education. I wonder, however, why if they all hate "wimp professors" who "think [their] brain is superior, and exempt from any courtesy", they defer the authority to attack such academics to the mindless drones of law enforcement. The university of Cambridge, for example, was only formed because the townspeople of Oxford grew weary of the presence of the university in their town and took it upon themselves to drive the students out. It perplexes me that, in an age where even the most foolish common man has a degree of political freedom, people are less willing to contemplate decisive action than they were in an age where they were supposedly crushed beneath the giant boot of 'Feudalism'. Why allow your rights to be usurped by tiresome and incompetent government departments?