<
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/11/lets-be-clear-the-rioting-in-la-is-by-the-cops-not-the-protestors/>
"I already wrote about the GOP’s bloodthirsty desire to use the military on
Americans. They manufactured a nonsense “crisis” by over-aggressively sending
in ICE agents to grab people off the streets, leading to protests, which were
focused on provoking protestors into violence, which would then be used to
justify an even more violent crackdown.
Given that, it’s crucial to get actual reports from what’s actually happening
on the street, rather than relying on questionable media framing by those not
actually there. Laura Jedeed, at
The Nation, reports from the actual protest
itself that the only “riot” happening is by the cops looking to provoke a
response to justify their initial volley of violent activity:
I spent Sunday from about 4 pm until very late inside the LA protests, and
this is what I saw. Yes, cars were set on fire in one part of the sprawling,
multi-block protest. Yes, fireworks were launched at cops—a handful,
sporadically. But it should be noted that these were launched long after
these police officers began unloading flash bang after flash bang, rubber
bullet after rubber bullet, into a largely peaceful crowd. (Flash bangs are
stun grenades that produce a flash of light and deafening noise.)
The idea that cops were just reacting to protester provocation is absurd.
Cops occupied intersections in an attempt to split the protest, then
occasionally charged the protest lines that surrounded them to force the
crowds to temporarily retreat. These assaults seemed unrelated to protester
action or lack thereof. At one point, while the cops were unloading round
after round of blue-tipped rubber bullets into a crowd hunkered down behind
a barricade, a different group of protesters approached from the side and
threw a firework into the center of the police line. The cops turned their
fire against the group, which ran off, but did not pursue them. Thirty
seconds later, the cops were back to shooting at the barricade.
We have heard a lot about the assault of police officers during these
protests. Why haven’t we seen it? Where’s the body cam footage showing
protesters injuring cops, striking them, putting them out of commission? I
saw a police officer struck by a water bottle thrown by protesters in a
barrage launched around 7:30 pm after those protesters spent hours absorbing
“less lethal” rounds and being deafened by flash bangs, but that’s about it.
Meanwhile, we’ve got drone footage of a mounted officer using his horse to
trample a protester, who lies prone on the ground, surrounded by mounted
police. We’ve got cops beating protesters with truncheons, cops deploying
tear gas, cops bringing box after box of ammunition to the line so they
could fire again and again and again into crowds of protesters exercising
tremendous restraint throughout the day.
This pattern—police initiating violence, protesters responding minimally,
police escalating further—isn’t accidental. It’s that fascist playbook all over
again: manufacture the violence to justify the violence you initiated.
We should all be calling it out for what it is."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
