Thanks for your replies.
The point was not whether its right in general for everyone to be so paranoid about 'health and safety' (I'm on the liberal side on that argument btw), but that in all the flying I've done I've never seen anything like this, the lack of control etc. Very different to other European/North american airports.
Personally, I would have preferred that the passengers were controlled better, both for the safety of themselves and for my safety so that they could not interfer with any equipment. You just don't know who your fellow passengers are nowadays and what their intentions are.