"Police often provoke protest violence, UC researchers find"

[applegrove]

Police often provoke protest violence, UC researchers find

by Kurtis Alexander at the SF Chronicle

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Police-often-provoke-protest-violence-UC-5704918.php?cmpid=reddit-premium&t=c14d456bf7ff6601cb#/0

"SNIP.........................



The violence that turns a small-town protest into a fiery national spectacle like the one that has played out this month in Missouri is often unwittingly provoked by police, according to researchers at UC Berkeley.

The research team, which studied clashes between police and activists during the Occupy movement three years ago, found that protests tend to turn violent when officers use aggressive tactics, such as approaching demonstrators in riot gear or lining up in military-like formations.

Recent events in Ferguson, Mo., are a good example, the study's lead researcher said. For nearly two weeks, activists angered by a white police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager have ratcheted up their protests when confronted by heavily armed police forces.

"Everything starts to turn bad when you see a police officer come out of an SUV and he's carrying an AR-15," said Nick Adams, a sociologist and fellow at UC Berkeley's Institute for Data Science who leads the Deciding Force Project. "It just upsets the crowd."



..........................SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. Police on the ground may unwittingly be following orders and provoking

the crowd but I saw a change in Canada when the neocons were in power. Overnight police got aggressive in their stance. And turns out the neocons wrote about framing violence in protests and as a result of liberalism. So somebody wittingly changed the culture of police protester interaction. At least in the 1990s in Canada.

[etherealtruth]

2. No surprise there

K and R

[bemildred]

3. There is nothing unwitting about it.

It is done in an attempt to discredit and then disperse the protestors, and it's old as the hills.

[Dems2002]

4. Agreed

http://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/actions/actions_cointelpro.html

"Within one year of the formation of the Black Panther Party, the FBI established a special counter-intelligence program called COINTELPRO, to neutralize political dissidents. According to COINTELPRO documents, 5 groups were singled out for investigation - the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers' Party, White Hate Groups, Black Nationalist Hate Groups and the New Left. The Black Panther Party was specifically targeted and bore the brunt of the most damage."

[frylock]

5. hunh. you don't say?

[Aerows]

6. In other news

Scientists have discovered that between 33 F and 211 F stationary bodies of water are wet. More to come on our segment "Painfully obvious to everyone with two brain cells to rub together."

[applegrove]

7. Some low information voter may be lurking. They may want facts behind how they are being

manipulated to hate by the right. I post for independants and people voting against their own economic interest not just the very well informed DUers. Remember that some on this board will be going door to door and talking with regular folk too. It may be well known to you and me but it is a piece of the puzzle with science to back it up.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended for enlightenment.

Thanks for the thread, applegrove.

[sakabatou]

9. Not surprised

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. Ever notice these things are never from the University of Alabama?

They're busy studying birth defects.