General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: That Splinter Group that Starts Looting/Violence/Provoking Police at Every Protest [View all]daredtowork
(3,732 posts)They do cost the city a lot of money, they do damage local businesses and property, and they do create hostility in the community instead of support: they get away with what they set out to do.
Saying "peaceful protest" as you pass by doesn't do a heck of a lot to stop them.
In the comments in Berkeleyside, there were various remarks (possibly planted astroturf from the very people who planted the anarchists) that the protesters should have "stopped" the anarchists. How? These guys are violent. "Stopping" them would have manufactured more violence, creating a pretext for the police to intervene and disperse the protest. i.e. - exactly what they want.
The police need to step in and stop them, but apparently the police are afraid of bad photo ops now. The anarachists are TRYING to catch police "engaged in violence" against them.