This is not the case everywhere in the United States (as it probably depends on the state and perhaps even the city), but at too many places the police is incomprehensibly lenient when it comes to "protests".
At most places (probably everywhere in the country), deliberately obstructing traffic is a crime, and will have you at the very least detained, perhaps even prosecuted. Except, it seems, if it's a group of people engaging in a "protest". Somehow that seems to elevate them above the law, and the police will not do anything to them. (YouTube is full of videos of people obstructing traffic, and the police just watching, doing nothing. At the very most they are perhaps calmly trying to solve the situation, but not detaining anybody. Not at all places, as said, but way too many.)
If somebody were to disturb somebody's peace on the street, yelling at them, calling them names, following them, obstructing their path, and kept doing this for an hour, if the police is called, they would surely detain the harasser, and perhaps prosecute him, at least if the victim is willing to. Except if, you guessed, the people doing the harassment are "protesting". Once again they seem to be above the law, and free to harass anybody they don't like, and the police will do little or even nothing at all. There are even videos out there of "protesters" outright assaulting people, hitting them, dragging them and so on, in full view of the police, and the police does absolutely nothing about it.
More egregiously, there have been several cases of outright brawls between people on the street, with the police explicitly having been told not to intervene. That's right, people being assaulted, beaten, and injured, and the police does absolutely nothing to stop it. Sometimes you can see in the videos this happening in the full view of the police, and they still do nothing. Sometimes the police aren't even there, even though they fully well know what's happening. (In one particular video a person asks the police why they aren't stopping the violence, and the answer was "ask the police chief". They were told by their police chief not to intervene. This is, as far as I understand, highly illegal, and deep corruption. To my knowledge no investigation has been done, and the police chief, or anybody else, has not been prosecuted for this.)
If a person, or group of people, were trying to break into the premises of a prison, it would normally raise huge alarms, and the police would very quickly be called. The people trying to break in would be very quickly apprehended with force if needed, arrested and prosecuted.
Except... you guessed it, if the people trying to break into the premises of the prison are "protesters". Then, suddenly, for an inexplicable reason, they are above the law, and untouchable. I'm not even kidding. There are videos of this on YouTube. These people were bringing down a fence for like an hour or more before the police showed up. And once they showed up they did absolutely nothing to the "protesters" who were trying to break in (and some of which had already succeeded in it). The police just stood there in front of the fence, doing pretty much nothing. Nobody in the video was seen being arrested or anything.
It is completely incomprehensible to me why it seems that in many parts of the US people seem to be above the law as long as they use the excuse of engaging in a "protest". They can literally break the law, and get away with it. They are getting away with unambiguous crimes that in any other situation would have them quickly arrested and probably prosecuted.
This is almost like the exact opposite of a police state (whatever that might be called, if it even has a name). Rather than the police being overly abusive and roughing up people for even the smallest of excuses, they are acting exactly the opposite: Even people who are clearly and unambiguously breaking the law in their full view, are being let do that with complete impunity. Oftentimes the police doesn't even intervene, and in many cases when the police does intervene there are zero repercussions to the perpetrators. Only if somebody is being physically injured will they intervene... perhaps. Not always even then (as described earlier).
It's a complete travesty. I simply cannot believe my eyes when I see YouTube videos of people harassing and literally assaulting other people in full view of the police, and the police just standing there doing absolutely nothing to stop it. It doesn't happen everywhere, and at some places it seems that the police is more eager to intervene, but it happens way too often, in way too many places.
Well, this is one of the major the reasons why the situation has escalated so much in the United States at this moment: Rather than putting a stop to the violence and the crime, the police is doing very little to stop it. Rather than immediately arresting people who are breaking the law, they are just letting them go, with no punishment of any kind. Often even without any sort of warning.
And no, it's not a question of not having the resources. Once again: People are committing clear unambiguous crimes in full view of the police, and the police officers are just standing there, doing nothing about it. Often they don't even approach the people.
If I were the president of the United States, I would command a full investigation of this behavior, and for stern measures to be taken to weed it out. A "protest" is not an excuse to be able to commit crimes with impunity. Being in a "protest" does not elevate people above the law.
At most places (probably everywhere in the country), deliberately obstructing traffic is a crime, and will have you at the very least detained, perhaps even prosecuted. Except, it seems, if it's a group of people engaging in a "protest". Somehow that seems to elevate them above the law, and the police will not do anything to them. (YouTube is full of videos of people obstructing traffic, and the police just watching, doing nothing. At the very most they are perhaps calmly trying to solve the situation, but not detaining anybody. Not at all places, as said, but way too many.)
If somebody were to disturb somebody's peace on the street, yelling at them, calling them names, following them, obstructing their path, and kept doing this for an hour, if the police is called, they would surely detain the harasser, and perhaps prosecute him, at least if the victim is willing to. Except if, you guessed, the people doing the harassment are "protesting". Once again they seem to be above the law, and free to harass anybody they don't like, and the police will do little or even nothing at all. There are even videos out there of "protesters" outright assaulting people, hitting them, dragging them and so on, in full view of the police, and the police does absolutely nothing about it.
More egregiously, there have been several cases of outright brawls between people on the street, with the police explicitly having been told not to intervene. That's right, people being assaulted, beaten, and injured, and the police does absolutely nothing to stop it. Sometimes you can see in the videos this happening in the full view of the police, and they still do nothing. Sometimes the police aren't even there, even though they fully well know what's happening. (In one particular video a person asks the police why they aren't stopping the violence, and the answer was "ask the police chief". They were told by their police chief not to intervene. This is, as far as I understand, highly illegal, and deep corruption. To my knowledge no investigation has been done, and the police chief, or anybody else, has not been prosecuted for this.)
If a person, or group of people, were trying to break into the premises of a prison, it would normally raise huge alarms, and the police would very quickly be called. The people trying to break in would be very quickly apprehended with force if needed, arrested and prosecuted.
Except... you guessed it, if the people trying to break into the premises of the prison are "protesters". Then, suddenly, for an inexplicable reason, they are above the law, and untouchable. I'm not even kidding. There are videos of this on YouTube. These people were bringing down a fence for like an hour or more before the police showed up. And once they showed up they did absolutely nothing to the "protesters" who were trying to break in (and some of which had already succeeded in it). The police just stood there in front of the fence, doing pretty much nothing. Nobody in the video was seen being arrested or anything.
It is completely incomprehensible to me why it seems that in many parts of the US people seem to be above the law as long as they use the excuse of engaging in a "protest". They can literally break the law, and get away with it. They are getting away with unambiguous crimes that in any other situation would have them quickly arrested and probably prosecuted.
This is almost like the exact opposite of a police state (whatever that might be called, if it even has a name). Rather than the police being overly abusive and roughing up people for even the smallest of excuses, they are acting exactly the opposite: Even people who are clearly and unambiguously breaking the law in their full view, are being let do that with complete impunity. Oftentimes the police doesn't even intervene, and in many cases when the police does intervene there are zero repercussions to the perpetrators. Only if somebody is being physically injured will they intervene... perhaps. Not always even then (as described earlier).
It's a complete travesty. I simply cannot believe my eyes when I see YouTube videos of people harassing and literally assaulting other people in full view of the police, and the police just standing there doing absolutely nothing to stop it. It doesn't happen everywhere, and at some places it seems that the police is more eager to intervene, but it happens way too often, in way too many places.
Well, this is one of the major the reasons why the situation has escalated so much in the United States at this moment: Rather than putting a stop to the violence and the crime, the police is doing very little to stop it. Rather than immediately arresting people who are breaking the law, they are just letting them go, with no punishment of any kind. Often even without any sort of warning.
And no, it's not a question of not having the resources. Once again: People are committing clear unambiguous crimes in full view of the police, and the police officers are just standing there, doing nothing about it. Often they don't even approach the people.
If I were the president of the United States, I would command a full investigation of this behavior, and for stern measures to be taken to weed it out. A "protest" is not an excuse to be able to commit crimes with impunity. Being in a "protest" does not elevate people above the law.
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