EU: It started with a bang from a firework rocket and ended with a few protesters getting clobbered with police batons and a couple of police officers being kicked in the rear. Somewhere in the middle of the melee, which was punctuated by more firework explosions, a nimble-fingered demonstrator stole RTÉ's camera tripod.
The demonstration was staged to greet the arrival of EU foreign ministers in the Italian lakeside resort of Riva del Garda, a spectacular setting framed by the giant Dolomite Mountains. The ministers were ferried to their venue, the Hotel du Lac, by helicopter and powerboat to avoid the protesters.
The demonstration was unusual, however, in that it was a pro-European protest organised by groups that want the EU to be more democratic and more open to immigrants and refugees.
"We want one Europe, a Europe of rights, a Europe of freedom. Not a Fortress Europe, but a Europe of true democracy. We are building Europe," said Mr Andrea Olivieri, one of the protest's organisers.
The protest lasted little more than half an hour and the handful of violent protesters were dealt with by the blue-clad riot police. A keen-eyed police officer spotted RTÉ's tripod where the thieving protester had hidden it and returned it intact.
Inside the Hotel du Lac, the ministers had a desultory discussion of an embryonic security doctrine for the EU. Ministers read prepared texts, repeating the submissions the government had already made to the EU's foreign policy chief. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, sensibly declined to speak in the absence of any real discussion.
Later, the ministers turned to the future of Europe and the negotiations leading to a new EU constitution. There was much talk of institutional arrangements, national vetoes and even the place of God in the constitution.
But most of the work of building a Europe of freedom, rights and true democracy was left to those outside the security cordon, the unruly heralds of a pan-European political movement.