zlacker

> In all cases the police didn't care and charged peaceful and violent demonstrators alike.

FWIW, German police regularly used undercover, black-clad, violent agents as a pretext for breaking up peaceful protests. It's probably an established tactic. But the situation in the USA looks very different (from here), violent protesters appear to be a small minority of the problematic people, most of which are just criminals using the opportunity to loot.

>>lazyjo+(OP)
Agent provocateurs are definitely a concern for protest organizers. Be they from anarchists, white supremacists, the police, or the state.

There are a lot of bad actors that win with choatic protests.

>>lazyjo+(OP)
This is something that really concerns me, because it's such an incredibly effective way to undermine any sort of demonstration. Are there any effective countermeasures to agent provocateurs that anyone knows of?

>>lazyjo+(OP)
From what I understand it’s actually untrue- the media are just more likely to film and show destruction rather than peaceful protests. In Minneapolis there were both massive peaceful protests and looting, but the property damage was covered more than the protesting. Given that the argument for looting is that people care more about property damage than about the protection of black lives against police oppression, this only further evidences the argument for property violence in response to human injustice...

>>TeaDru+jf
It's well documented. For example, in this interview with a police officer: https://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/article107870345/Wir-werde...

> "Ich weiß, dass wir bei brisanten Großdemos verdeckt agierende Beamte, die als taktische Provokateure, als vermummte Steinewerfer fungieren, unter die Demonstranten schleusen. Sie werfen auf Befehl Steine oder Flaschen in Richtung der Polizei, damit die dann mit der Räumung beginnen kann.

Translation: "I know that we insert undercover agents as tactical provocateurs, as hooded(disguised) stone throwers, among the protesters during large controversial protests. They throw stones or bottles at our command towards the police so it can begin the evacuation".

>>lazyjo+Dm
I don't doubt there are provocateurs, but I doubt this constitutes the majority of the protesting.

>>TeaDru+5q
The majority of protesters are not provocateurs of course. You just need a few of those, or even one, to justify a brutal police response against peaceful protesters.