— Matt Viser (@mviser) June 1, 2020 During the protests, violent criminals taking advantage of the chaos clashed with vigilantes encouraged by the president’s reckless tweets causing numerous casualties, including several deaths. But the ongoing protests have drawn tens of millions of people from across the country, the vast majority of which remain peaceful. The police and military, however, are attacking peaceful protesters around the country without provocation. Police and military personnel in dozens of cities across the country were caught assaulting peaceful protesters in videos that were streamed live on social media and shared by millions. Many of the attacks are confusing and appear motivated by nothing more than the desire to hurt citizens, no matter how peaceful they were:
— Albert MacGloan ➐ (@AlbertMacGloan) May 31, 2020
— Sharla McBride (@SharlaMcBride) June 1, 2020
— John C. Liu (@LiuNewYork) June 1, 2020
— MaxOnƬwitter (@The_Stepover) May 31, 2020 They shot a blind man. What threat could this blind brown man have possibly posed to the officers that shot him?
pic.twitter.com/OvI7EqDsFs — Biden_Brigade (@biden_brigade) June 1, 2020 They attacked elderly bystanders:
— SkyeMartin (@skye_rtin) May 30, 2020 They attacked politicians:
— Tim Ryan Renaud (@TimWCBD) May 30, 2020 They broke ranks to attack black people:
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) May 30, 2020 They ran over protesters:
This is attempted murder! pic.twitter.com/JhrJVYWl61 — Stephanie, Ph.D Candidate (@Stephaniejing2) May 31, 2020 They let white people pass, then busted the windows out of a car full of black people so they could shoot them with tasers multiple times and then drag them out of their vehicles and assault them for breaking-curfew-while-black:
— rudy betrayed (@rudy_betrayed) June 1, 2020 They fired on people standing on their porches:
— Tanya Kerssen (@tkerssen) May 31, 2020 And they fired on people inside their own homes:
— isaac | BLM (@GrandDaDSac) May 31, 2020 Among those targeted across the country were numerous reporters. In several instances, police opened fire on reporters after they confirmed their identities as members of the press. This, too, comes at the orders of the impeached president who has declared the press the “enemy of the people.”
“I’m Press! Press! Press!” Cop shouts “I DON’T CARE” and throws him to the ground. Another cop pepper sprays him directly in the face.pic.twitter.com/OqOA8Odu0M — Chad Loder (@chadloder) May 31, 2020
— Michael Anthony Adams (@MichaelAdams317) May 31, 2020
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 1, 2020 Cops in a handful of cities used the protests as an opportunity to feign solidarity with those protesting them.
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) June 1, 2020 A small group of police officers have chosen to join the protesters in uniform. However, it’s telling that tens of millions of cameras aimed at the police have captured hundreds of instances of police violence but, to the best of this reporter’s knowledge, no instances showing police who aren’t attacking peaceful protesters stopping the ones who are.. The ones marching with us instead of protecting us from violence are getting paid the same taxpayer dollars as the colleagues they’re failing to police. How did this all happen? Social media and police scanner apps, that’s how. We’ve seen protests and riots in the US before. But in the past, the narrative always hinged on showing legions of violent looters burning buildings at night juxtaposed against calm, stoic peace officers protecting protesters from harm during the day.
But, so far, the government can’t force people to sign off Twitter or stop downloading apps. Curfews and overloaded phone lines can’t keep activists from organizing and, perhaps most important of all, the people finally have a dead-simple option to monitor the police in real time. Tracking police communications used to require a hardware scanner and a little bit of know how. But these days you can get one by simply searching for “police scanner” in the Apple or Google app store. All you have to do is install the app and pick the dispatch you want to listen in on. Most of these apps will alert you when there’s police action in a city and you can always tell how many people are listening to a specific stream.
— can you stfu please | blm (@onlyfakin) May 30, 2020
— Omaha Scanner (@omaha_scanner) May 30, 2020 At least six times while listening to police comms via scanner on 30 May, I overheard officers in Minneapolis signal their intent to fire chemical weapons at peaceful crowds and subsequently saw tweets go out warning protesters to prepare their cameras and ready themselves for impending assault. I tip my hat to the tireless efforts of those risking their lives and freedom to expose the tyranny of the US government in this unprecedented time. Stay safe out there, stay non-violent, and keep filming.
