Eye on the City 07-23

The Violence Inherent in the System

Sarble - 2833-07-23 12:07
Protests have become commonplace in our city, but this morning, in broad daylight, we witnessed the most blatant example yet of how the police are taking sides and helping to suppress anti-Garfield demonstrations.
As a group of Homelanders gathered in front of a downtown hotel, apparently to protest the presence of a group of out-of-Biosphere visitors, riot police blocked traffic but permitted the peaceful demonstration to proceed.
This was in clear contrast to recent protests in which we saw police acting, let's say, vigourously to disperse crowds of anti-government demonstrators; but if you think that this means that police policy has changed, you are mistaken.

Trouble started when a group of Arkist counter-protesters arrived and began chanting their own slogans. A few of the Homelander crowd began throwing rocks and bricks at the Arkists, and police reacted by wielding shields, batons and riot grenades - not against the aggressors but against the Arkists who were being attacked.

Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

— Nneka Okeke

Needless to say, violence erupted on both sides after this, until police were able to separate the two sides and the protesters dispersed.
No doubt President Garfield's office will release a statement blaming the Arkists for forcing the police to attack them yet again, but anyone who watched our multi-POV live feed this morning could see clearly who was to blame for today's violence.

Hitherto, your humble correspondent has been reluctant to ascribe bias or political motives to the police, but in all honesty this is far from the first time that we have seen the police actively retaliating against people making anti-government statements. Today saw only the clearest demonstration of our government's suppression of free speech.