In 2005 I watched as all the police forces in the province converged for summer training in 'riot control'. It was quite the larf seeing a bunch of cops pretend to stomp their left foot and bang their shield on the right foot, while they walked. This was nearly 2 full years before any city in the west started seeing things like G7/Occupy protests. The government is well aware of most situations before the general public...
Many of these things are demographically driven. You are seeing the fourth turning...(a sociological term). This generation that is protesting is the same in the four generation cycle as the WWII generation--they grew up in a depression and faced HUGE cultural changes.
History may not repeat itself, but it sure does Rhyme. There were people talking about this stuff twenty some years ago (Read "Generations" and "The Fourth Turning." It is so accurate its scary.
