The Renton PD seemed to employ a "out of plain sight" approach.
Patrol vehicles strategically placed, a few uniform officers were near occassionally chatting with protestors, and patrol vehicles driving by the scene.
At one point a team of bicycle cops appeared out of no where rode through along side the protestors.
Each "side" seemed to be respectful of each other.
The approach of the Renton Police Department not antagonizing the protestors had it's intended effect--the protestors protested peacefully. In fact, when police vehicles flashed lights, or chirped sirens in support of the protestors, the protestors cheered in support back.
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.
I think that's unlikely.
Keeping the peace is an inherently challenging job that gets harder exactly when it is needed the most.
More realistically, I think it is rarely this simple, on either side. I'm sure that usually there is a feedback loop of escalating responses.
The premise of the article is Police showing escalating force, increases escalation of protestors.
While likely it's a feedback loop, the police are expected to keep the peace; so there exists a higher standard for their behavior.
Yet, an oft criticism is that LE agencies don't always get the de-escalation training they need.
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.
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.