Just 22 Examples of Cops Being Violent Against Peaceful Protestors
During protests against police brutality, police are deploying...police brutality.
In Austin, District Attorney Margaret Moore is encouraging her constituents to report incidents of police brutality.
"There have been many graphic photos which appear to depict peaceful protesters being attacked by officers," Moore said, urging demonstrators to report such incidents. "If you feel your rights have been violated by a police officer, please file an official complaint with the Office of Police Oversight (OPO) in order to initiate a formal investigation. The OPO provides impartial oversight of the Austin Police Department and its officers." The FBI is following suit.
As protests continue, it's difficult to keep track of what's going on. What's clear is that despite the media's focus on "looters" and incidents of random violence, police continue to act with stunning violence against the people they are supposed to protect and serve.
This comes as no surprise to protestors who are already out protesting police brutality. Who knows how many of these incidents occurred away from video? Who knows how many killings like George Floyd's occurred without being filmed in the decades that police have been allowed to shoot and kill at innocent people without fear of culpability?
Undoubtedly there are cops that do not condone these actions and that support Black lives, and yes, there are some police officers who have been injured. But people who only care about injured police—and not at all about the innocent people that the police injure—may want to reexamine their morals and the unconscious biases that may be informing this.
The violence inherent in policing cannot be denied. The fact that these incidents continue to occur across the nation is telling, at the very least—telling about the systemic violence that haunts America's police system and that manifests itself in real bloodshed.
These videos are proof that the police have a serious and deadly problem, and at best they will be catalysts for complete and total reform of the American policing system.
Read More:
The Marshall Project's Police Abolition Project
Opinion: America's Protests Won't Stop Until Police Brutality Does — New York Times
Police Prove Point of Protests by Instigating Violence Across the Country — The Root
Please note that many of these videos contain violent, disturbing imagery.
1. NYPD recording of calls to shoot and run over protestors surfaces.
2. Kansas City police use excessive force against protestors.
3. Cops shove a photographer into fire.
4. An officer drives a van into a crowd in Brooklyn.
5. An NYPD officer pulls down someone's mask to pepper spray him.
6. A photographer is shot with rubber bullets.
7. Atlanta police officers are charged with excessive force for arresting two Black college students.
8. Officers fire rubber bullets at peaceful protestors in LA.
9. Police assault a Wall Street Journal reporter.
10. Police tase someone sitting in their car.
11. Police fire rubber bullets at a reporter.
12. Police shove a girl to the ground and continue to pepper spray her.
13. Police beat a pregnant woman.
14. Police use tear gas on a group of protestors putting their hands up.
15. Police mace a seven-year-old girl in Seattle.
16. Police handcuff a family asking for protection.
17. Police shoot paint canisters at people sitting on a porch.
18. Police use tear gas on protestors in Washington D.C.
19. Police send flash-bangs and helicopters to disperse a protest in DC.
20. A SWAT team shoves and knocks down an old man with a cane.
21. Police attack peaceful protestors in Virginia.
22. Police tear gas crowds of protestors in California.
These are not the only incidents. These are not the worst incidents. This is why people are in the streets.