Ah in fact I have; fell through the ice before. Its quite cold, and coming out into -25 air didn't help either -- but you know what -- I survived and fully recovered! And I doubt these protesters in the horrible "sub-freezing" air (20s) suffered worse then I.

Now alternatives include being shot to death, being ground under tank tracks, gassed with nerve gas, and other terrible things governments use on their people who protest. Being hosed down with water is a joke that only a privileged, entitled, whiny society could abhor so much -- and only because they know no discomfort whatsoever and have no clue how it works in the majority of the world outside the United States.