Have you ever seen the movie "Zulus"? The police if under seige would form a square, similar to the British soldiers in the movie, and would fire volley after volley into the crowd until people moved back, dispersed, or were all killed. There would be a mass of dead and wounded bodies at the foot of the police formation.
That is a bloody image. I saw Zulu...shows how coordinated firepower can be awesome, even with single shot firearms.
Is that Zulus or Zulu Dawn (or something like that)? I'm thinking of the one with Michael Caine. A very good movie. But do you really see the police shooting into a crowd of hundreds men, women, and children carrying water? The police aren't monsters. And I'll bet many of them hate what's happening to Terri.
Zulus was a great flick. Those Brits knew how to run an empire!