A recent peaceful demonstration against government cuts ended in violence caused by relatively small numbers of 'anarchists' attacking police and property. Anarchism is a political philosophy, and as a group, anarchists tend to be unable to agree among themselves on exactly what it means. But what does it tell us about these events or about those involved if we call everyone with a brick in their hand an anarchist? Given that the central idea all anarchists have in common is the abolition of the state (not necessarily by violence), ‘anarchist' is a daft way to characterise the violent hangers-on of a demonstration protesting not for but against the shrinking of the state.