zlacker

> The cynical part of me thinks they want to arrest people

That is what they are doing. The theory is that once they put someone through being arrested, that person will not continue coming to protests the following days.

I’m am certainly not agreeing with the tactic, but that is why they are doing it.

>>momoko+(OP)
Sure, but it seems pretty obvious that videos of these arrests/beatings are driving other people to protest.

They say to never attribute to malice what you can attribute to stupidity, but I just really don't know which way to go on this one.

>>awille+z
Judge also just ruled they can be held for more than 24 hours in New York without charge. So there’s that as well.

NYPD is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. They know all the tricks and are not afraid of the ethical implications of them.

>>awille+z
The police don't care about driving more people to protest, and they actually benefit from increased mayhem. The police care about demonstrating their power to show they are in charge over the public. This totalitarian philosophy has been present the whole time, but thinly veiled and mostly ignorable for most people. Now it's on display out in the open versus peaceful groups exercising their first amendment rights.