zlacker

It's a tough situation for police too. On one hand, how to you stop those taking advantage of the situation by looting/burning? On the other hand, how do they show tolerance for non-aggressive civil disobedience?

Should anyone breaking curfew be subject to rough treatment? Should the police stand idle while people burn and loot? How can peaceful protesters be protected while looters/abusers are using them as shields for their activities?

PS: If replying, please be civil!

>>novale+(OP)
Yes, gentleness and civility is appreciated for sure.

>>novale+(OP)
The protests are happening because the police have made a habit of treating the people as the enemy. So policing as usual, with excessive displays of force just because they can get away with it, will do nothing to quell the violence.

I think the way forward is let police do what they need to, but also allow the people to prosecute police when they step out of bounds. The current culture of protecting abusers among the police needs to go away.

>>novale+(OP)
In general, I think the problem that we have in the US is that the militarization of the police forces have upped the conflict when these situations arise.

What generally happens is that protests begin and the police departments move in to shut it down, instead of trying to contain it and let the protesters get their message and frustrations out.

When you see the videos of aggressive action against people who are peacefully protesting, then it causes more frustration and anger with the police which escalates and creates more conflict.

I think the French generally handle protests in a way that allow the protests to proceed until they reach a certain point. Yes, private property is damaged/destroyed (ie cars burning etc), but generally the protests are allowed to proceed.

If the police in our country recognized that people need to protest, to vent their frustrations and contain it to a mostly orderly affair, we might be better off for it.

>>novale+(OP)
It is definitely hard to know where to draw the line. But there’s a common rhetorical tactic in situations like these, where it’s hard to know. And that is: to say, well, since we don’t know where to draw the line, then everything is permissible (or everything is forbidden, depending on what side someone is arguing)

But the truth is, while the line may be hard to draw—and in reality, there probably will never be a perfectly defined line—there are always cases that are definitively on one side or the other. And police violence against non-violent protests will always be on the “unacceptable” side, no matter where it ends up being.

Some situations are grey. But it does not follow that all situations are.

>>novale+(OP)
You don't attack non-violent protestors or bystanders. You use proportional violence and only as a last resort.

But more importantly, you avoid these kinds of situations by not being an absolutely inhumane and racist police force that should be a disgrace to any nation that calls itself civilized.

I do find it fascinating and a bit scary that you can read this article, watch the linked videos, and then come up with a comment like this though. Is this kind of stuff that normalized in the US?

>>mercer+c6
Yes, unfortunately, it is normalized, even 9 years ago, the UC Davis pepper spray incident shocked people, but we hardly have changed since then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC_Davis_pepper_spray_incident

>>yedava+O1
Yes, this sounds like a workable path to a better future. The prevalence of cameras and incident footage would steer justice in the right direction IMO. Only if police lose the protection from prosecution.

If that happens we’d see how easy things will “fix” themselves, the police will police themselves too

>>novale+(OP)
> It's a tough situation for police

Pray explain what is so tough about refraining from shooting tear gas canisters right in the face of an unarmed civilian from distance of few tens of meters ?

>>yedava+O1
The lawyers defending the cops would be paid by tax payers, correct ?

If I am not mistaken, fines, if imposed on the cops would be paid using tax payer's money too.

>>mercer+c6
If you go to /r/publicfreakout and sort by /rising, you will see LOTS of videos of some rioters being extremely violent.

Two sides to every story.

Peaceful protesters deserve respect and to be heard. Rioters and looters should be dealt with harshly by the law.

>>srean+Kl
Probably the same tough behavior that's preventing rioters from burning down poor immigrant small businesses.

Human stupidity and the law of averages.

>>koheri+nt
Do you not see the dozens of videos on that sub showing protestors being shot, shoved down, tear gassed, for nothing?

>>koheri+rt
It would be as easy for the cops as staying home, because that's literally all they have to do to prevent violence in the streets.

https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-proacti...