... I read it and the other articles referenced in other posts about the incidents where undercover police were exposed during protests.
From the article: "...the agency and other police departments have had plainclothes officers dressed in protester attire walking in these marches since the first demonstration Nov. 24, and he said they will continue to employ this tactic..."
This is essentially the response given by the Canadian authorities also, to incidents that were linked to in other posts in this thread.
In other words, these are not "agent provocateurs", they are undercover surveillance, intelligence gathering in support of crowd control. This is far more "active" than the "report filers" that I was describing, but it essentially falls into the same category and represents a legitimate police function.
As far as there actually being violent hoodlums and vandals amongst these protestors,in support of whatever "anarchists" or other ideology they identify with, it isn't very hard to find confirmation. Just to prove this point, I did a very cursory web search and very easily found one such advocate of violence, a fellow named Gord Hill who goes by the name of Zig Zag on line and has been publishing advice and encouragement for "black bloc" protest tactics for some number of years on several web sites. His latest post (on Warrior Publications) is advice to help protect the identity of the minority of protestors in Ferguson who employed the violent and destructive tactics he advocates. His "about" page gives his eMail address, and I'm sure that, as long as it does not involve any actually incriminating self-confessions, he would be happy to explain his motivations for advocating violence, vandalism and disruption as protest tactics.
In other words, the black bloc is real and the vandalism is real. And, as you pointed out, the undercover police presence is real - and justified.
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