Have police lost the ability to control the streets?

It comes down to how widespread this kind of thing becomes (and the worse the economy, the more likely to be widespread).

This is a bit like 1968 and around then: global, largely youth-based actions. Police can respond to isolated incidents but not to lots of them at once or all around the same time. A novel twist this time around is how many municipalities are meanwhile firing cops because of the lousy economy.

If they can't control and protect private property from a group of ravers, how are they going to protect the public and property from real criminals?