It seems to me that almost every violent protest/riot started peaceful but then police make it violent.
I have seen this so many times where police stay out of the way and everything goes smoothly. I think US police actually want a riot. They want to create violence.
It’s interesting, because I’ve taken a personal firearms course that involved concealed carry in the US and they talk about de-escalation there (I’m pretty sure they have to). I would at least expect the same from police (obviously their training would be much more in depth with all the tools cops get).
The aim is usually to end the protest locally and generally. Often one way to do this is to turn it into a riot. This makes the general population oppose the violence and property damage generally and also disperses the peaceful people on the street locally. Agent provocateur.
Maybe not all of them, but you only need a few people like the over-enthusiastic COD cosplayer cop [1] in management positions to kick things off.
Considering the vast, vast amount of footage of excessive force from the police in the last few days, I think it's likely the police want a riot. If they don't then they're beyond incompetent since they keep causing riots regardless.
You know, humans have a lot of built-in reactions that are very hard to resist in the face of certain stimuli. It's hard enough to get people to talk peaceably in an online forum where we aren't smelling pheromones, feeling an adrenaline rush in reaction to physical threats to our well being, etc. It's vastly harder to stay calm and behave "competently" in the face of that sort of thing.
My ex was career military. One day, I was seriously set off by something and he accidentally got up in my physical space and bumped into me and his military training apparently had prepared him for how to de-escalate in the face of imminent physical violence because I was quite ready to hit him over it. The end result was that I left the house to go cool off elsewhere.
So I've experienced first-hand physical de-escalation tactics and my ex was one of the calmest people I have ever known. I'm the only person he ever raised his voice at (when we were fighting). Most people were incapable of getting a rise out of him.
So I think I have a pretty fair idea of just what it takes to actually de-escalate physical violence when faced with imminent physical violence and most people have neither the temperament nor the training. He had been in the military quite a few years at that point.
I don't intend to argue this further. I've said what I wanted to say. I was surprised my initial comment got any upvotes at all instead of being just stomped into the ground, given the current climate out in the world.
Yes. If police departments properly charged their employees when they break the law, there would not have been protests, rioting, or looting. Trevor Noah's attempt at explaining this is very straightforward but adroit.
Another point: Persona A goes and kill my neighboor, Can I (or is it good to) go out and do whatever a I want? Like rioting, beating people and destroying other people property?
If you have proof that Person A killed your neighbor, and yet they were being protected from prosecution, of course I would support your right to protest. Sometimes the only way to get change is with large public support.
Unfortunately, today's news focuses only on violence and fear mongering. You will eventually realize that peaceful protests have never successfully brought change. You will find yourself screaming into a void, without justice.
Today, the police claim that there are only a few Bad cops but most are Good, and ask us to trust that. There are only a few rioting protestors, but most are peaceful. However, the cops across the US are rioting, beating, and destroying the lives of every protestors. Cleveland PD has banned news media from entering downtown. Seattle PD has fired flashbangs and rubber bullets at news reporters. A black CNN reporter and their whole crew was arrested live to avoid the public witnessing what was to take place.
Nobody disagrees that rioting and vandalism and burglary are horrible acts. But I would rather the people riot if it leads to lives being saved and equal accountability for all citizens.
Yes, three of the four guilty cops are free with no charges, and the fourth is only being charged due to the protests and would not have been otherwise.
This comment can surely not be in good faith. You cannot seriously be suggesting you believe that protesters went to "destroy evertyhing[sic] in every city"?
I'm almost convinced instead of looting, in many cases (at least here in WA) it's some sort of organized crime syndicate working with street level gangs using the civil unrest as cover to commit grand theft.
In DT Seattle, protests turned into violent riots, and many nearby businesses were damaged including looting.
In other WA cities, criminals picked strategic targets (Target, Walmart, and BestBuy) and hit them in multiple locations. In Bellevue, there was footage of cars pulling up to take the stolen possesions and drive away.
That was different than with looting, in which people typical take anything that isn't nailed down.
I have seen this so many times where police stay out of the way and everything goes smoothly. I think US police actually want a riot. They want to create violence.