The Murder of George Floyd & Subsequent Protests/Riots

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Some reading...

bellingcat - The Boogaloo Movement Is Not What You Think - bellingcat

Oh, yeah, you've mentioned the 3% movement hear before. Definitely makes sense the context you said it in after reading that article.

The idea that a single event will trigger the Boogaloo is a binding myth for this movement, but civil wars are often complicated and unpredictable. Nevertheless, many rallies and armed protests are scheduled for the summer. Familiar pro-Trump, militia, and Patriot Movement groups are likely to be join]ed by a new crop of heavily armed and colorfully dressed “Boogaloo Bois” who are convinced that civil war is a foregone conclusion, and who have been goading one another towards armed confrontations with law enforcement.

In a United States made even more unstable by a contentious presidential election season, and the social and epidemiological effects of COVID-19, every protest or street battle and its aftermath will carry the potential for serious acts of violence. As protests over the death of George Floyd heated up in Minneapolis on May 26th, members of Boogaloo groups across Facebook considered it a call to arms. Memes were churned up that day, adding George to the movement’s list of martyrs:

 

[Lexicon]

Not to be excessively morbid & cynical, but I'm honestly surprised that no nut job has shown up to one of these protests with an automatic rifle & opened fire indescriminately yet. I hope it doesn't happen, but I fear it's a likely eventuality, all things considered.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Protests spread beyond the U.S. to London and Berlin. In NYT.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Trafalgar Square in central London on Sunday afternoon and marched toward the United States Embassy, the most visible sign so far of popular support overseas for the protests across the U.S. against police killings of black people.

Holding signs and clapping their hands, the protesters gathered in the square in defiance of stay-at-home restrictions in effect across Britain to fight the coronavirus pandemic. They chanted “I can’t breathe,” “Black lives matter,” and “No justice, no peace,” before crossing the Thames to march peacefully to the embassy.

The protest march on Sunday echoed one on Saturday in the Peckham district of South London. Another London march is planned for next Sunday.

Several hundred protesters rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Berlin on Sunday, holding up signs saying “Justice for George Floyd” and “Stop killing us,” Reuters reported.
​

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Barr: DOJ will take action against crossing state lines for "violent rioting"

Without citing evidence, Attorney General Bill Barr denounced what he described as "planned" violence from "far-left extremist groups" on Saturday, in response to many U.S. cities erupting in protest through Friday evening over the killing of George Floyd.

Driving the news: President Trump quickly echoed Barr's statement on Twitter, saying that "'Crossing State lines to incite violence is a FEDERAL CRIME! Liberal Governors and Mayors need to get tougher on protestors or the federal government will use "the unlimited power of our Military and many arrests."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Saturday that the state believes 80% of protestors came from out of state.
Mayor Melvin Carter of St. Paul, Minnesota, walked back his original statement on Saturday that everyone arrested during protests in the city was "from out of state," according to multiple reports, saying that the arrest data he was shown was inaccurate.

Reality check: Neither the president nor Barr provided information about why they believe protesters are crossing state lines to incite violence. Mass protests broke out Friday night in multiple U.S. cities across multiple states, with some escalating into violence and property destruction.

Barr's denouncement against allegedly organized demonstrations followed Trump's earlier claim on Saturday that protestors outside of the White House were "professionally organized."

What they're saying: Barr said that "outside radicals and agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda" and that "in many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups, far-left extremist groups, using antifa-like tactics, many of whom travel from outside the state to promote the violence."

"It is a federal crime to cross state lines or to use interstate facilities to incite or participate in violent rioting, and we will enforce those laws," Barr said.

"80% of the RIOTERS in Minneapolis last night were from OUT OF STATE," Trump tweeted after Barr's press conference. "They are harming businesses (especially African American small businesses), homes, and the community of good, hardworking Minneapolis residents who want peace, equality, and to provide for their families."
​

(^Didn't copy/paste well, easier to read at site).

OAN: Barr: Floyd Protests Are Being Hijacked By Far-Left Forces, DOJ Will Enforce Rule Of Law

“In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized and driven by anarchic, far-left extremist groups using Antifa like tactics, many of whom travel from outside the state to promote the
​

I guess they haven't replaced enough of the intelligence agents yet to be able to claim there are intelligence reports to back this up without fear of a whistle-blower coming forward?

 

[Lexicon]

..the fuck?


"Share widely: National guard and MPD sweeping our residential street. Shooting paint canisters at us on our own front porch. Yelling “light em up” "

 

[Red Memories]

In my opinion the George Floyd uproar is way out of hand. People are combating a lack of empathy with more lack of empathy, taking things out on people who didn't commit the crimes, or just affecting them as a consequence of inconsiderate and barbaric actions that weren't thought through. That one guy's life's work went up in flames. Cops who don't agree with the crimes committed are being punished for them. I'm trying to have some faith in humanity but it doesn't seem it's going to happen. The condition of the heart is a plague itself, always spreading. One after another, peoples' hearts grow cold and it all just snowballs from there.

I've been trying to find words and you definitely found them for me. I absolutely feel this officer was wrong but these protests are too much.

 

[anticlimatic]

End the lockdown. Stop the riots | Spectator USA

Whether people realize it yet or not, I think these are more lockdown riots than anti racism riots. Too many people with nothing to do and giant wrapped up balls of stress and anxiety with no worthy outlet. Ten ton catastrophe on a sixty pound chain.

The postmortem on this thing is going to be absolutely savage.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

..the fuck?


Share widely: National guard and MPD sweeping our residential street. Shooting paint canisters at us on our own front porch. Yelling “light em up”

Yep. The world is on fire.

 

[FemMecha]

Does anyone know what the extremist groups are planning next? I'm hoping they lose against the National Guard, but I'm a little concerned about the smaller communities next. We're having our protests now and they are going peacefully and cooperatively with the police.

 

[Tellenbach]

1% protesters,99% scumbag thieves looking to score free shoes and an iPhone. We saw the same thing in 1992 after the Rodney King verdict; hundreds of Korean businesses were destroyed by these scumbags. Those neighborhoods still haven't recovered.

If you wonder why job opportunities are scarce in minority neighborhoods, it's because crime and vandalism raises the insurance rates. Business owners spend a lot more on insurance so they can't afford to pay higher wages or employ more people. The only people these rioters are hurting are minority business owners and the people who live in those neighborhoods. These assholes burned down brand new housing developments for low-income people; good luck getting the money to build another one. Every one of these animals need to be rounded up, arrested, convicted, and sent to prison.

 

[Lexicon]

Yep. The world is on fire.

I know there's a curfew there after 8, but they're allowed to be outside on their property past that time, so this makes no sense at all.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

1% protesters,99% scumbag thieves looking to score free shoes and an iPhone. We saw the same thing in 1992 after the Rodney King verdicts; hundreds of Korean businesses were destroyed by these scumbags. Those neighborhoods still haven't recovered..

Protesters are good people. There are just a few bad apples.

 

[FemMecha]

..the fuck?


"Share widely: National guard and MPD sweeping our residential street. Shooting paint canisters at us on our own front porch. Yelling “light em up” "

I have mixed feelings about this because I can also see how it would be frustrating to be called in to fight the white supremacist militias and drug cartels and have all these spacey people wandering around who could get caught in the cross-fire.

I've also read reports that take things way to far like attacking medics who are working on injured people and sending the medical personnel and their patients running through the street away from rubber bullets and mace.

The indiscriminate use of force is crossing the lines to be immoral, so the approach is often wrong. I also think the population needs to help the National Guard get the very dangerous people out of the city and give them space to do their job.

Protests should continue, but I can see giving a few nights for this actual war to be fought in the streets and then go back to organized protesting until there is social change at the systems level.

 

[ceecee]

I have mixed feelings about this because I can also see how it would be frustrating to be called in to fight the white supremacist militias and drug cartels and have all these spacey people wandering around who could get caught in the cross-fire.

I've also read reports that take things way to far like attacking medics who are working on injured people and sending the medical personnel and their patients running through the street away from rubber bullets and mace.

The indiscriminate use of force is crossing the lines to be immoral, so the approach is often wrong. I also think the population needs to help the National Guard get the very dangerous people out of the city and giving them space to do their job.

Protests should continue, but I can see giving a few nights for this actual war to be fought in the streets and then go back to organized protesting until there is social change at the systems level.

There is no evidence of drug cartels, other than the governor's claim.

 

[Lexicon]

I have mixed feelings about this because I can also see how it would be frustrating to be called in to fight the white supremacist militias and drug cartels and have all these spacey people wandering around who could get caught in the cross-fire.

I've also read reports that take things way to far like attacking medics who are working on injured people and sending the medical personnel and their patients running through the street away from rubber bullets and mace.

The indiscriminate use of force is crossing the lines to be immoral, so the approach is often wrong. I also think the population needs to help the National Guard get the very dangerous people out of the city and give them space to do their job.

Protests should continue, but I can see giving a few nights for this actual war to be fought in the streets and then go back to organized protesting until there is social change at the systems level.

Yeah I get that, but these people are on their home porches doing nothing wrong.

 

[ceecee]

Yeah I get that, but these people are on their home porches doing nothing wrong.

Exactly. Or the media that gets shot with rubber bullets at point blank range. Or arrested on air. The cops are going to protect property, not citizens and not their homes.

 

[anticlimatic]

Protesters are good people. There are just a few bad apples.

A few? Fuck protesters.

Right wing protesters: "We are going to the capital to protest and we are going to bring GUNS this time!"
Left wing protesters: "Hold my craft beer."

LA:

Seattle:

Chicago:

Nashville:

Detroit:

Salt Lake City:

Atlanta:

New York:

Philadelphia:

Vegas:

Cleveland:

Denver:

Indianapolis:

Wilmington:

Grand Rapids:

Pittsburgh:

Too many more to keep going...

 

[FemMecha]

Yeah I get that, but these people are on their home porches doing nothing wrong.

Maybe it's because I tend more towards being a bit paranoid, but if I were in that scene, I would be inclined to think that it had nothing to do with doing anything wrong, but that perhaps the militia were nearby and there could be an ensuing firefight soon. Maybe that wasn't the issue, but it's my first assumption when seeing that instead of hall monitors trying to make sure everyone is in class or something less terrifying.

Drug cartels and militia are sociopathic and sadistic beyond the edge of imagination. If they are busy setting buildings on fire, that is the mildest possible form of their behaviors. Mixing such people in with the general population feels like letting all the farm animals loose in a forest overrun with starving coyotes. There is this inevitability of unchecked violence that could motivate even me to get harsh trying to create safe boundaries between the two groups of people.

 

[Lexicon]

'Let's walk': Sheriff joins Flint protesters in show of solidarity

 

[Lexicon]

Maybe it's because I tend more towards being a bit paranoid, but if I were in that scene, I would be inclined to think that it had nothing to do with doing anything wrong, but that perhaps the militia were nearby and there could be an ensuing firefight soon. Maybe that wasn't the issue, but it's my first assumption when seeing that instead of hall monitors trying to make sure everyone is in class or something less terrifying.

There'd be a Shelter in Place SMS sent out to people if that were the case, I'd think.

Drug cartels and militia are sociopathic and sadistic beyond the edge of imagination. If they are busy setting buildings on fire, that is the mildest possible form of their behaviors. Mixing such people in with the general population feels like letting all the farm animals loose in a forest overrun with starving coyotes. There is this inevitability of unchecked violence that could motivate even me to get harsh trying to create safe boundaries between the two groups of people.

I agree, this is a chaotic, dangerous situation, but it's moments like the one I linked that make people further distrust the police & military to actually serve and protect them as they should. Which also makes their jobs all the more dangerous right now.