This Charming Man said:
I have watched pro cycling, since the 70s. Watching the tour this year....fans are so out of control. I have always respected Europeans, as sophisticated, thoughtful, respectful, people. In this years tour, my dreams, and respect for Europeans, has waned, and I am so disappointed by European cyclingfans. Now, barriers must be erected? Why not arrest the hooligans. Is not how it is handled, in footbal matches??
You can only arrest people if they break the law: jogging on the public highway, cheering, flagwaving, and wearing stupid costumes are all legal activities in any country worth inhabiting, no matter how irritating or brainless they might be.
I suspect that the legal difficulties in trying to pass legislation against every action that could disrupt a race on public roads are such that the needed laws will not be passed. And even if they were, there would not be sufficient law enforcement present to see that they are applied,
In the absence of personal moral restraint, the impracticality of legal restraint, and the unwillingness of peer restraint*, it is hard to see any solution other than physical restraint: more barriers is the sad but inevitable result of this.
When the Tour passed through Kent in 2007, I went to watch in Tonbridge. There were barriers on both sides of the road for the entire length of the urban section of road, and crossing was limited to a few controlled places for about 5 hours before the race came through. And that is Tonbridge: the epitome of genteel conformity. There must be some happy medium between that overkill and the chaos of yesterday, but at least it shows that ASO are not unwilling to get their hands on more barriers and more minimum wage stewards to lay them out when necessary.
*: I would like to feel that peer restraint of roadside idiots is not totally lacking, and am grateful to those who, unseen, prevail upon those who were about to do something daft or dangerous, but I too rarely see the crowd turning on the selfish attention seekers near them.