Discussion for article #230917
“Splinter groups” don’t just break off of protests. The whole point of a protest is power in numbers. ‘Splinter groups broke off before violence broke out’ is shoddy reporting slang for “the cops started arbitrarily blocking off, separating, and beating a peaceful, 1st Amendment protest.”
Look at the videos and you can see cops beating ALL students indiscriminately well before any vandalism occurs. Was your only source here the police or something…? Disappointed in TPM’s reporting here…
I live right in the middle of this. Fights/near fights were breaking out all night between peaceful protesters and asshats who were only there to smash things. Talk to the protester who was hit in the head with a hammer by another “protester” because he was pleading with folks to be peaceful.
This is not “shoddy” reporting. The sad fact is that a small number of folks are hijacking the protests for their own selfish purposes. Not sure how looting Whole Foods honors the victims of police violence.
Haven’t seen any videos of cops beating folks indiscriminately. They could certainly exist. However, take a look at this video from Saturday night of white guys smashing Radio Shack’s windows and terrorizing black customers and employees. This fits my definition of a “splinter group”. Plenty of folks marching peacefully and 2-3 idiots bent on destruction.