Riots look fun on TV. and then you're in one. And you've only met these protesters casually a few times. Are you ready to take a beat down for them? And are you willing to fight hard against a tight unit like LEO or the military who have a lot more weapons to escalate with.
Whenever I went to demonstrations -and, granted, its been a while since War in Iraq started- I made a very conscious decision about this beforehand. Its part of planning, because it might affect your OPSEC (things such as your possessions and your planned behavior).
I also believe its not a valid comparison between physical violence and emotional violence (such as threats). I'm currently reading Ronan Farrow's Catch and Kill, and I keep thinking: "now this is a fight worth fighting for". I'm at 2/3 and I have not read about physical violence [against the reporter, Farrow; not referring to the violated women!] as of yet.
As many protesters will tell you, in a lot of cases the police start the fight. Are you saying you're okay with them being able to just silence you? What do you propose doing when they use violence to shut down your protest?
A protest is ordinarily not a story. The police suppressing a protest is a story. Protestors understand this, and there's a whole romanticism around getting arrested on camera.
Over the last month we've seen the strongest proof of this that one could imagine. In India, 250 million farmers and associated union members went on strike. Somehow this event went completely unreported by USA journalists. In nations where the USA "defense" department could conceivably waste more money, the threshold is considerably lower than 250M... more like, say, ten? Twenty? Possibly a hundred protesters in Syria or Hong Kong would be worth a report.
Instead, you need to announce a permit for a demonstration. If you don't have one, the police will tell you to leave the premise. If you fail to comply, you might get arrested, even if you don't use violence. But the part where protestors fail to comply with (reasonable and legal) instructions by the police is the part you omit.
Whereas I never got into trouble with the police. Partly because I got the popular skin colour, gender, etc but also because I know when to be obedient and sincere. I can only recommend the same. Pick your battles!
If they did, you would see police initiating physical violence against a group of otherwise non-violent protesters.
> Instead, you need to...
Or else, you would see police initiating physical violence against a group of otherwise non-violent protesters.
In a brutal dictatorship, violent suppression of dissent is direct and obvious. In your democratic country it is hidden among "reasonable and legal" stages; this keeps the Good Citizens [1] obedient and sincere.
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If violence is perpetrated against the police, preparators will go to jail.
That is however not the case when done by anti-riot police.
These asymmetrical rules prevent much from happening.
And this play against them, an enemy can study them too. The saying it that the Sun clan spread its military manuals far, and wide to indoctrinate everybody into using few easily predictable military strategies.
A brilliant military strategy is always like a zero day exploit.
Seeing an errand enemy spy always showing up at known route, and known times to check your garbage, or steal your post? A perfect opportunity to confront him with a few muscular guys, and a soft enough rubber hose.
Something I've noticed with the riots in Europe/America/China/the Middle East/Africa is that we now have first hand video footage of how situations play out. Often longform over 20 minutes which goes far beyond what traditional media forces would show.
It isn't anywhere near enough to erase the organisational gap, but it is the furthest along the civilians have ever been in that game.