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Comment by cwhiz | Hacker News Reader

Police are making it a battleground? Not the people throwing Molotov cocktails, fireworks, and bricks. No, it is the police who have made it a battleground.

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Both sides need to be present to escalate the situation. If you look at the videos from a couple weeks ago of the police just herding protests with tear gas and dragging people into vans, they're not exactly a deescalating presence.

the police have been making it worse. Using questionable tactics, using disproportionate force, lieing, inciting/supporting one side over the other, using beyond questionable reasoning for declaring a riot, using agent provocateur ...i could go on. Check out Blue Leaks as well. The fact is the majority of the media covering Portland are not showing the whole story.

Citizens have constitutional rights to peaceably assemble. The language is right there in the bill of rights. Police don’t show up and corral peaceful protesters who applied for, and were granted, permits for demonstrations.

When an assembly becomes not peaceful it ceases to be lawful. If unlawful protesters do not disperse police must use what you call “questionable” tactics to remove them.

The rule of law must be upheld.

So one person throwing a bottle is a reason to declare a riot? This has happened. Who decides when an assembly ought to be declared a riot? Currently its police and they have shown time and again they cannot be relied on to make a sound judgement in that regard. The majority of time there has been little reason to declare a riot and instead of relieving the tension, government forces have stoked it. What about using agent provocateurs? Surely this is not what you consider to be upholding the rule of law. And for that matter Portland police have shown bias in their application of the law in regards to counter protestors. I support the rule of law wholeheartedly but it must be applied evenly across all fronts for the rule of law to be maintained. On its face alone, I agree with your statement but digging any deeper reveals that unfortunately your black and white maximalist/ reductionist viewpoint doesn't fit the reality in the ground. Its shades of grey. The media and the radicals on any side are forcing you into this viewpoint. Btw you are leaving out so much in your assessment to in order to make a black and white argument.

It’s simple. We have rules and regulations on how to assemble in public. They differ from city to city and state to state but the information isn’t hard to find. Typically you need a permit if your assembly is more than 20 people but that’s not universal. And an assembly in the middle of the night is almost certainly not peaceful or allowed.

People are trying to make it grey to apologize for what is happening.

So do you think that such a simple approach would work to create change? What about free speech zones? Do those kinds of assemblies mean anything to those in power? Is a protest that doesn't have a permit still unlawful to you even if it were 100pc idealistically peaceful? Do you believe had there been meaningful change in the first 30 days, people wouldn't still be put protesting? What about the upcoming Proud Boy gathering, this does not have a permit. Are they not allowed either? There are plenty of instances where a demonstration doesn't need a permit like if you aren't blocking traffic or the demonstration is under a certain amount. These are genuine questions.

>Police don’t show up and corral peaceful protesters who applied for, and were granted, permits for demonstrations

1. Is it a right if you need to ask permission from the very people you're protesting against?

2. The entire nation watched police tear gas peaceful protestors in DC so the President could have a photo of. We also saw Portland police break the hand of Christopher David, a 53 year old veteran when he approached police, unarmed, with his hands raised.

>The rule of law must be upheld.

The police need to follow the law too.

Well cops left in Seattle and let Marxist larpers have a go. Couple dead people later that had to be ended. Well that and looting with a good doze of racketeering(protection money) and assaults on whoever did not look like they fit

Watch the video where they executed one kid, the other who was shot lived because I guess he looked dead so they did not give him coup de grace

Please provide sources.

Google it, it was all over the Reddit and even some “news” media bothered to report it. 2 kids white suv, roadblock.. 16 year old finished off with a round to the dome, younger one lived but was severely wounded. There is a video of the evidence destruction(them collecting casings) but it is harder to find.

I think nobody been arrested or charged. Yeah nobody gives a shit about that either

Ill have to look it up and report back i guess.

the police union needs to call for a 60 day strike. just take away the policing function of the local government for two months. that will lay bare the real motives of the protesters, either peaceful demonstration or violence and looting.

It sounds like you believe that protestors are some sort of cohesive whole. If 90% of protestors are peaceful, and 10% are effectively anarchist provocateurs (or just unlawful types taking advantage of unrest to mask illegal/antisocial behaviour) then the police abandoning things is clearly going to make things turn bad IMO.

Can USA police really not restrain from violently attacking the peaceful elements amongst protestors and just seek to keep the peace against those provably causing violence? They'll actually need to act like grown-ups, be brave, and not arrest people for calling them names and such.

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