I think it is interesting that the protesters are complaining that the police were very active in deploying non-lethal force this week at the G20 conference in Pittsburgh. The complaint is that the police overreacted when the actual violence was happening somewhere else. Now I am sure non-lethal force is no fun to be on the receiving end, and the protesters didn’t like it. I am sure they would have preferred for law enforcement to stand on the sidelines and let things go until events got out-of-hand. The problem is this was not some random protest on Main Street USA. It was a protest at the G20 and there is some history there. If you asked me to free associate and gave me the word G20, I would respond withe either protests or riots. The wackos out there use the G7/8/20 meetings as an excuse to riot and cause significant damage in the host city. At this point, they have been so successful in demonstrating, but not so much in communicating, that I am very familiar with the results but not what they actually want. Knowing this, if I was a leader at a city and offered to host one of these events, I would try to find an honorable way out and leave the headache to someone else. With that in mind, I can’t blame the Pittsburgh police for being quick to employ non-lethal force. When you know things will escalate quickly, people will get seriously hurt and significant property damage is likely, it is a good idea to act at the first sign of problems.
I would also like to see some more ownership from the leaders of the protests. There are ways they can try to get their message out there without violence always erupting. Also, if they helped turn in those who were trying to cause trouble, it would go a long way towards lowering the intensity of the response of the government. If the police KNEW that any violent elements inside the group would be expelled and dealt with, there might be less riot gear in sight and more cooperation. The response is proportional to the action. Orderly and peaceful protests normally go the entire protest without the single use of a bean bag or flash-bang grenade. Maybe the question should be asked, “What are we doing to cause this?” rather than complaining about the impact on civil liberties by the response.
- FOP Vermillion