Police are throwing flashbang grenades at protesters

[Jim Jeffries]

I'm having a little trouble being sympathetic with this group of miscreants in Oakland.




Who threw rocks and flares at the police.

And I still can't believe the occutards in Portland got away with shutting down a port, right before Christmas, no less. Adam Carrola has it right.

[Sweet Pea 50]

Occutards......Lmaoooo.

[AKATheMack]

Actually I'm referring to the cases in which the police do behave like they're supposed to, a fact that a certain type of protester relies upon. Of course the effort is made to begin with to cause a reaction. This is why they go up to guys doing their job and yell things like "NAZIS" and "FASCISTS" and "SHAME" at them over and over again. When that fails, as it usually does, they escalate the behaviour to pushing and shoving. At this point arrests tend to start, with the instigators as the target. Then the protesters "fight back" (even though they actually started it by pushing and shoving) by throwing things. Then the police start to enforce order physically and the cameras start rolling.

This tactic isn't actually effective for anything other than patting each other on the back. Ordinary people watching those videos don't think "Oh man, those police were brutal!". They think "That angry mob should be dealt with severely". But I really don't know how many of these hippy dipshits really care about saving the world. I think it's more about getting the stinky tie-dye girl who smells like wet dog to nibble on their cock-scabies.

I give 2 shits about the occupiers, but Oakland isnt the city I would reference when talking about police officers acting like they're supposed to. Their violations over the past few years have been numerous and a federal judge just found them non compliant with around 20+ reforms that were put in place 8 years ago after a scandal involving the officers beating and framing suspects.

[Hi-Dro]

nah, the feds dont want a revolt agaisnt the police, and they dont want to police to be seen in such a negative light.

perhaps their goal is a more direct effect but that direct effect would be to reduce violence and crime and to allow the protestors to protest in a lawful way.

Exactly!

Which is why i stated that as police they can do whatever they want.

[-2 Scrappy-]

First few page was five star thread material i was dying!

We need more men in this country with balls. Throw molotov ****tails stop bending over and letting the government **** your tail!

[squealpiggy]

I give 2 shits about the occupiers, but Oakland isnt the city I would reference when talking about police officers acting like they're supposed to. Their violations over the past few years have been numerous and a federal judge just found them non compliant with around 20+ reforms that were put in place 8 years ago after a scandal involving the officers beating and framing suspects.

Oakland need to recognise the same thing that police departments all over the word have recognised: These protests are not about the issues, they're about the spectacle. They're about the "look how violent the cops are" and the "watch our video of peaceful protesters being heartlessly dragged across the ground". The whole occupy thing is off the front pages everywhere apart from Oakland because they've been largely ignored. "You're right guys, you do have a right to peaceful protest... have fun with that!". Occasionally they'll overstep the boundaries but by that point it's only the core of usual suspects and honestly nobody gives a crap if some nineteen year old middle-class hippy playing at lawbreaking cops a foot in the ass. Oakland on the other hand couldn't have given them more publicity if they took out an ad in the Superbowl.

You watch those youtube "police brutality" videos. Every protest is the same. The cameras start rolling just as someone is being arrested (you'd have thought that "citizen journalists" would have wanted to capture the whole event but apparently they're not too bothered about showing events leading UP to arrests) and everyone has a good old cry about "he's not even fighting back and they are hitting him, all he's doing is refusing to put his hands behind his back!". The whole point of that core of protesters is to get a video of police giving someone a clout then they can skrike about how oppressed they are.

[AKATheMack]

Oakland need to recognise the same thing that police departments all over the word have recognised: These protests are not about the issues, they're about the spectacle. They're about the "look how violent the cops are" and the "watch our video of peaceful protesters being heartlessly dragged across the ground". The whole occupy thing is off the front pages everywhere apart from Oakland because they've been largely ignored. "You're right guys, you do have a right to peaceful protest... have fun with that!". Occasionally they'll overstep the boundaries but by that point it's only the core of usual suspects and honestly nobody gives a crap if some nineteen year old middle-class hippy playing at lawbreaking cops a foot in the ass. Oakland on the other hand couldn't have given them more publicity if they took out an ad in the Superbowl.

You watch those youtube "police brutality" videos. Every protest is the same. The cameras start rolling just as someone is being arrested (you'd have thought that "citizen journalists" would have wanted to capture the whole event but apparently they're not too bothered about showing events leading UP to arrests) and everyone has a good old cry about "he's not even fighting back and they are hitting him, all he's doing is refusing to put his hands behind his back!". The whole point of that core of protesters is to get a video of police giving someone a clout then they can skrike about how oppressed they are.

Again Im not defending the Occupiers, my concern is the police misconduct. The Oakland police have been plagued with issues and take the Occupiers out of the equation and OPD still arent up to regulation. With their record its a shame they would be caught on camera doing anything sketchy. If these sweaty hippies came up yelling at me Id pepper spray them and kick them to the ground as well, I think police should be held to higher standards however.

[squealpiggy]

Again Im not defending the Occupiers, my concern is the police misconduct. The Oakland police have been plagued with issues and take the Occupiers out of the equation and OPD still arent up to regulation. With their record its a shame they would be caught on camera doing anything sketchy. If these sweaty hippies came up yelling at me Id pepper spray them and kick them to the ground as well, I think police should be held to higher standards however.

Indeed they are. Do you think protesters would feel as comfortable getting up in the faces of nightclub bouncers and yelling "SHAME"?

[AKATheMack]

Indeed they are. Do you think protesters would feel as comfortable getting up in the faces of nightclub bouncers and yelling "SHAME"?

Seeing they way they cry and carry on whenever the police actually do something answers that question. Its just ridiculous that the police are feeding into this behavior. Their biggest news accomplishment was a group of them sitting down and getting pepper sprayed. If the police had ignored the minor stuff and not been so quick to use force when it wasnt necessary then this mess would have been over by now.

[Drunken Cat]

These guys are clearly all in it for attention. What could they possibly be complaining about.