Poor love! She sounds a delicate flower, doesn't she? Strolling alone minding her own business in the City of London when suddenly she was struck down by the jackboot of the fascist police state.

Er... well, perhaps not. The marvellous thing about all this video footage that is swilling about on the internet is that truth cuts both ways – and often it dispels the myths on both sides.

Take a few moments to look at the video and a strikingly different picture emerges from the propaganda being put out by the protesters and their friends at the BBC and left-wing newspapers.

Instead of the sanitised version of injured innocence, what you'll see is an aggressive-looking young woman – as
yet unidentified – hat pulled down over her eyes, mouthing obscenities into the face of a police officer, who is trying to ignore her.

After several minutes of this he snaps and slaps her with the back of his hand with the words: "Go away."

She doesn't and she continues to hurl abuse. At which point he draws his baton and belts her on the legs.

If anyone ever deserved a good slap, this woman certainly did.

Instead of being suspended and investigated, I believe the officer involved should be commended for his forbearance.

Sadly, the world doesn't work like that. The woman involved is reported to have engaged Max Clifford to sell her story to the newspapers and it can't be long before the inevitable claim for compensation is submitted.

She'll get her 15 minutes of fame and a few quid. Celebrity Big Brother here she comes. Being belted by a policeman is probably the best career move she's ever made. Clifford has a gap in his portfolio where Jade Goody used to sit, so no doubt he'll be marketing his new recruit as "The People's Crusty".

To be serious for a moment, unnecessary violence by the police cannot be acceptable and if any officer is found to have broken the law – including the aforementioned G20 officers – they should face the consequences.

If this young woman behaved like that in any city centre on a Saturday night, she would be lucky to escape with a full set of teeth, but – quite rightly – we hold our police to higher standards.

And, of course, the death of Ian Tomlinson – who wasn't a demonstrator but who has been raised to status of martyr by the activists – should be properly investigated.

But it is worth putting this into a bit of context.

In the run-up to the G20 summit the protesters were threatening extreme violence and boasting they would be hanging bank workers from lamp posts.

It is important to grasp that the whole point of these demonstrations is the violence. They are the middle-class equivalent of the football ruck. That's why from Seattle, to Copenhagen, to Melbourne, to Davos, to Genoa, to London, not one of these protests has been peaceful.

Clearly the police had to take these threats seriously. To do otherwise would be a dereliction of duty.

The policing of the G20 protests was robust – and hugely successful.

There were remarkably few serious injuries and besides the routine trashing of the Royal Bank of Scotland, very little damage.

Now Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has ordered a review into the policing of large demonstrations.

Fair enough if lessons can be learned – but the police shouldn't abandon successful tactics because of the
whingeing of a few professional malcontents.

The last thing we want is for officers to be required to deal with violence with one hand tied behind their backs.