Why would protesters on the left wear masks?

[LisaM]

38. I was in Seattle during WTO (I live here), and the anarchists (as they were termed then)

were a huge problem. From what I observed, they created the violence. There had been a number of permits issued for large, peaceful labor union marches. Those marches were totally disrupted, I don't even know if they all took place. Downtown became crazy.

I've seen this same group show up time after time in the PNW, masked, violent, and going by different names. Until someone shows me otherwise, those people or their successors are now going by the name Antifa (and I know this is an umbrella name), and are wearing disguises and clearly there to either cause or provoke violence.

I have seen a lot of defensive posts here, maybe some of it has to do with nomenclature. What - I hope - none of us like are the small and disruptive groups of masked provocateurs. I think in some cases those people helped Trump by showing up at some of his rallies. It definitely created a "both sides do it" storyline, even if it was five disruptors and 2000 Trump supporters.

I get that people are angry, I get that people don't like Fascism, or that they fear it. I get that their are huge issues with the WTO and there were legitimate reasons to show up in Seattle in 1999 to protest the IMF. But the streets became dangerous, and there was no reason for that to happen.