Who misses the days of non-violent protests, when police stood near and protestors chanted silly catchphrases and held grammatically correct signs? Oh those days are gone, well not really they still happen but unless there’s some sort of violent stupidity it won’t get more then 30 second media spot. – PB/TK
Inside the Black Bloc Protest Strategy That Shut Down Berkeley – By On 2/14/17 at 8:00 AM
It was the first black bloc for Neil Lawrence, a third-year undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. He had demonstrated with Black Lives Matter and seen people in bandannas show up at events and smash things. But after the Berkeley College Republicans announced controversial Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos would be speaking on campus, Lawrence decided it was time for a more aggressive form of protest. “It became clear to me and my close friends that the tone of living in America is changing, and in order to stop being scared, we started organizing,” he says. “I, a transgender Jew, don’t have a problem with violence against fascists.”
Through a friend who was involved in the local Antifa (anti-fascist) group, Lawrence learned activists were planning a black bloc. As a 5-feet-2-inch person who has never been in a fight, he says he wanted the safety that comes from being part of an anonymous mob. On February 1, hours before Yiannopoulos was about to speak, Lawrence and around 150 others gathered off campus where Antifa told them to meet. They got their gear and outfits ready. He was dressed in all black and had a T-shirt wrapped around his face, leaving a slit for his eyes. A person with a megaphone told the group the route they’d be marching, and they set off toward campus. Along the way, they chanted, “No borders, no nations, fuck deportation.” Lawrence didn’t carry anything, but others had flags and projectiles….
…… The demonstrators caused an estimated $100,000 in damage on campus, the university said, and an additional $400,000 to $500,000 elsewhere, according to Downtown Berkeley Association CEO John Caner. The school has tried to distance student activists from these more aggressive ones, describing the latter in a statement as “agitators who invaded the campus and disrupted nearly 1,500 peaceful protesters.” Others have said students were among the masked ones. President Donald Trump called the demonstrators “professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters” and implied that the university should lose federal funding.
http://www.newsweek.com/2017/02/24/berkeley-protest-milo-yiannopoulos-black-bloc-556264.html
