No surprise, the police are violent everywhere. But they’re selectively violent, and it shows. When hundreds of unarmed citizens gathered to protest the police murdering a citizen, they got the usual response: police in riot gear marching out and hitting them with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Here are the latest photos from @CarlosGphoto coming in from the protest march over George Floyd's death, which turned into a clash between Minneapolis police and protesters. #georgefloyd https://t.co/pmcMibimEj pic.twitter.com/YMLKQS0Jhk
— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) May 27, 2020
Protesters filled the intersection where Floyd died, carrying banners that read, “I can’t breathe” and “Jail killer KKKops.”
They later marched to a police station where officers in riot gear confronted them and deployed tear gas and fired projectiles. As rain fell, some protesters kicked canisters toward police.
The protesters made the classic error of not showing up with shields and AR-15s and rocket launchers. If they had, the chickenshit police would have stayed in hiding in their station. It’s open season on peaceful protests, especially ones that criticize our thin-skinned cops.
Oh, also, they weren’t white. Terrible mistake. Never protest while brown, because the police are agents of a white supremacist government.
If the protesters had done this, they would have been white, screaming insults, and carrying Nazi flags and pro-Trump banners.
Rather obviously, the 2nd amendement nuts are admitting that it was never about resisting government oppression; in fact they are on the other side and always have been.
Dear frogs being slowly boiled alive,
Consistent with the program of dismantling American democracy once and for all:
Arresting Dissent: Legislative Restrictions on the Right to Protest
https://pen.org/arresting-dissent/
Kentucky’s Governor, Andy Beshear, was hanged in effigy by some right-wing “Three Percenters” just outside the Governor’s Mansion on Sunday. His response:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/26/1947872/-KY-Governor-Beshear-D-amn-Right-Responds-to-Being-Burned-in-Effigy-You-WANT-to-Hear-This?utm_campaign=trending
JESUS CHRIST ON A CROSS WITH AN ERECTION!!! (that’s a curse with +10 christian and +10 homophobia)
How is this not front page news today? I check my news feed and all I get is Trump bitching about Twitter. This should be the biggest story of the day. Something is very wrong.
How is this not front page news today? I check my news feed and all I get is Trump bitching about Twitter. This should be the biggest story of the day. Something is very wrong.
Oh yes, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. I can see that. Good demonstration of the freedom of the USA. Anyone tried policing by consent? I know, just too British.
And a relevant article from The Onion.
Unshockingly, many corporate media “stories” say “violence in Minnesota” without saying who perpetrated the violence…all while showing pictures of Black people and not cops.
You can tell who’s planning to start a riot by how they dress and the gear they bring.
Reminder: “rubber bullets” means thinly-rubber-coated steel bullets.
Ask any Palestinian.
Okay, so white protesters can show up armed, and nothing happens to them, but when black protesters show up unarmed, the cops bring out the battle gear. Got it.
So many parallels with nazi Germany and the murderous Order Police (Ordnungspolizei). Thousands of Americans died for freedom in WW2 and this is what they got – an unhinged, heavily-armed militia movement with government backing murdering the innocent and attacking anyone who dares speak out.
The land of the free my arse.
From the story linked
“ Emotion and tension ran high as demonstrations became unruly, with windows damaged, graffiti sprayed and a police car vandalized. ”
Just wondering- were these protesters peaceful? How should the police respond to their violence?
As repulsive as the right wing protesters are , were they violent?
Were the police peaceful? How should people respond to police violence?
Chris Phillips:
Don’t get too smug, it’s not like we Brits don’t have our own issues with racist policing.
@12
I think a frozen chicken was thrown through a police car window.
So, which right-wing protesters compared to what are you talking about? Right wing protesters tend to be peaceful? [snort!]
It was an asymmetrical situation. A good question would be; what did the police do to deescalate tensions, and what will be the long term effects of how they handled it?
I wasn’t there, but the usual police playbook is:
– Show up in force and start needling the protestors. Stop an search people for bullshit reasons. Block off streets to disrupt the protest. Push people around with your shields.
– One of the protestors will lose their temper and shove someone or throw something. If not, signal one of your plain-clothed officers infiltrating the protest to do it for them.
– Declare that the protest has turned violent and that anyone who doesn’t leave immediately is a criminal.
– Block off exits, preventing people from leaving.
– Clubs and shields. Mace and taser. Arrest whoever is left.
– For bonus points, once you arrest them, you can keep them sitting on cold floors, refuse bathroom breaks, take away their medication; all sorts of fun stuff.
– Best of all, no matter what you do, all your buddies will miraculously lose their memory of it. Since you’re all wearing the same uniform, even with video, nobody can tell who did what and nobody can be held accountable.
But that’s just my experience. And that of everyone I’ve talked to on the subject. And the historical pattern of how police usually operate.
The original incident was over a supposed counterfeit $20 bill. I haven’t heard a peep about it since then, and you know the fascists would be crowing to the skies if Floyd had been found to be passing funny money. This tells me that he wasn’t, and someone had an innocent man murdered in the street for nothing at all. Again.
Thank you Artor I kept saying what counterfeiting I read nothing about it anywhere. FFS that is awful. The whole thing makes me ill.
Artor @ #17: I think I get what you’re trying to say here – just throwing it out there that counterfeiting isn’t cause for murder.
FWIW, saw the store guy on the TeeVee saying police were called about a bill that was possibly counterfeit. His comment was that Floyd, a good customer if I recollect all his words, possibly wasn’t even aware of what he was passing and didn’t deserve to die in any case.
They need a wall of white people at the front carrying rifles, rocket launchers and confederate flags. Would have let them march right in and take over any government builds then.
Yep. There was not a shred of evidence that Floyd had been passing counterfeit money at the time they arrested him and killed him despite him complying. E
…and even if he had been a counterfeiter, which we have absolutely no reason to believe, he should not have died for it. It’s clear that he was killed because the arresting officer felt like hurting someone and Floyd was black and convenient.
katadhin@12–
The police should have responded by: apologising to the community and announcing the case has been handed to prosecutors on the day of Floyd’s death, and in the case of the immediate protest, de-escalating — something they seem perfectly capable of when it suits them, as in the recent protests by insane trumpistas with assault rifles.
The fact that you include spraying graffiti as a violent act justifying tear gas and rubber bullets says it all.