The constitution* has been thrown out of the window in New York City.

[ZombiLoin]

Okay so first off, I'm pretty sure that the reason there's being a militarized response is because most if not all of the protests lately have NOT been peaceful. As an example from the ferguson "protests": Lootings, robberies, pyros, people throwing rocks at police officers and literally wishing death upon them. And that's just what I saw looking at brief amounts footage of the so called "protests."

Second, you summed it already: "responding to the sort of demonstrations that erupted after the Eric Garner grand-jury decision"
I never watched any livestreams of the eric garner "protests" but I'm almost certain that they're similar to the ones at ferguson, feel free to correct me here.

if you followed ferguson from the start you'd see that the police generally did terrible things (teargassing peaceful protests and 'nading a newspaper camera crew) that prompted further riots.

[Ad Bot]

[Nymph]

if you followed ferguson from the start you'd see that the police generally did terrible things (teargassing peaceful protests and 'nading a newspaper camera crew) that prompted further riots.

From what I saw and read they weren't very peaceful, but I may be wrong

[Swat 3]

From what I saw and read they weren't very peaceful, but I may be wrong

Most of it wasn't.

If you call blocking streets not peaceful then see: Martin Luther King Jr.
Not the best of comparisons, but he did march on them. Whole point of protesting is to get your message out.
The people who were throwing stones and robbing stores are the people who supposed to be arrested. Never, as a police force, clump everyone in the area a criminal because of a few bad eggs.

[Ipquarx]

The people who were throwing stones and robbing stores are the people who supposed to be arrested. Never, as a police force, clump everyone in the area a criminal because of a few bad eggs.

I watched several livestreams, and none of the time did I see them doing that. When there was a large group of people doing violent things near them they would deploy tear gas to disperse them, or arrested the offending people. One thing I'm not sure of is whether or not them "directing" the flow of protesters is really good or not. For example there was an area where all the journalists would be, there was an area for the general public, there was an area where they were arresting violent rioters. If you weren't in the right area you risked being arrested, and I'm kinda iffy about that and it kinda smells like abuse.

[Swat 3]

I watched several livestreams, and none of the time did I see them doing that. When there was a large group of people doing violent things near them they would deploy tear gas to disperse them, or arrested the offending people. One thing I'm not sure of is whether or not them "directing" the flow of protesters is really good or not. For example there was an area where all the journalists would be, there was an area for the general public, there was an area where they were arresting violent rioters. If you weren't in the right area you risked being arrested, and I'm kinda iffy about that and it kinda smells like abuse.

They were telling people to turn off their cameras.

[Ben Grapevine]

They were telling people to turn off their cameras.

Are you actually at the protests? The media only looks at the extreme ends of everything. Stfu if you aren't informed on things.

[Swat 3]

Are you actually at the protests? The media only looks at the extreme ends of everything. Stfu if you aren't informed on things.

I was watching a livestream.

[Ipquarx]

I was watching a livestream.

I was too, I never saw that tho... Must not have been very often otherwise I woulda saw it

[Clear Glass]

Good.

[Aces]

Are you actually at the protests? The media only looks at the extreme ends of everything. Stfu if you aren't informed on things.

If you had to be there to make a verdict of what's going on then every point is moot.

A livestream is pretty much the best resource for viewing the situation, because you can't bias or cut out specific parts.

[ZombiLoin]

I watched several livestreams, and none of the time did I see them doing that. When there was a large group of people doing violent things near them they would deploy tear gas to disperse them, or arrested the offending people. One thing I'm not sure of is whether or not them "directing" the flow of protesters is really good or not. For example there was an area where all the journalists would be, there was an area for the general public, there was an area where they were arresting violent rioters. If you weren't in the right area you risked being arrested, and I'm kinda iffy about that and it kinda smells like abuse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqqp_LAVklA
The news crew was a mile away from any protests.

[Biostorm]

They never do this at Tea Party rallies despite Tea Party members bringing guns to rallies and displaying threatening slogans lol

[Ben Grapevine]

If you had to be there to make a verdict of what's going on then every point is moot.

A livestream is pretty much the best resource for viewing the situation, because you can't bias or cut out specific parts.

Except that a livestream cannot show 360 degrees and every block of the ordeal, and generally livestreams are no different from the regular media. Why would you not go to all the action in an attempt to gain more viewers?

[Aces]

Except that a livestream cannot show 360 degrees and every block of the ordeal, and generally livestreams are no different from the regular media. Why would you not go to all the action in an attempt to gain more viewers?

So what you're saying is that they're going to the place where everything happens?

What else would they stream exactly, and what place would they be in to where they need a 360 view in order to show everything?

[ABlockOfCheese]

I have nothing against a highly trained anti terror unit.  Something like a serious hostage situation should be dealt with by people who have a specialized job in dealing with exactly those situations.

On the other hand, I'm not ok with protesters being lumped into this.  I understand that someone needs to be there to handle protests that turn into riots, but the fact of the matter is, if people would stop generalizing white cops and black kids then things would go a lot better, and these types of "protests" probably wouldn't happen in the first place.