More of this needs to happen if there is to be peace on the streets in America again.
On Sunday, several unidentified people attended a peaceful demonstration in Washington, D.C., coming together in protest over the death of George Floyd. During the rally, a few protesters intervened to stop another from potentially causing further damage to property — and possibly injuries as well.
A reporter for a Turkish news organization posted a video clip of the incident on Twitter:
WARNING: The following video contains violence and obscene language that some viewers will find offensive.
Protestors in DC handed the white dude who was about to provocate the protest to the police.
He has been arrested and taken away. #DCProtests #Riot #BLACK_LIVES_MATTERS
10.3K people are talking about this
It shows the group tackling a white man dressed in black, who was busting up a sidewalk in the nation’s capital.
The person obviously came prepared with tools, and although his motive was not clear, he clearly had destruction in mind.
It seems unlikely that the protester’s desire was merely to damage the sidewalk, leading one to believe that he was trying to take hold of some bricks to throw at buildings or even police officers, who have been targets of attack from lawless rioters over the past several days.
That, in turn, would likely have led to a forceful response from law enforcement, during which additional protesters who had nothing to do with any brick-throwing could have become involved.
The group of protesters, both black and white, spotted the vandalism as it happened, sprung into action and brought the man to the ground to keep any of that from happening.
They then dragged him over to the police, who took the person into custody.
The cops were all wearing riot gear, and it appeared as if it took them a few moments to realize what was going on because of the confusion.
This was an encouraging move by peaceful protesters who are demonstrating against police brutality over the May 25 death of Floyd.
Floyd was allegedly killed by a (now former) Minneapolis police officer who was fired and faces a charge of second-degree murder.
Since then, peaceful protests and rallies have occurred across the nation. But violent riots have also erupted, which are not solving anything.
The First Amendment to the Constitution is clear and protects the rights of people to gather and speak out against what they feel is unjust. But it does not allow for destruction and violence. When a protest results in brutality and rampage, then it loses its meaning and has no purpose.
Most conservatives would argue that the best response to such violence — like the best response to almost any situation — is one that involves government intervention least and individual responsibility most. Thus, a group of protesters acting to protect themselves and their comrades from the use of force by eliminating the potential cause for such use of force actually put into action a very conservative principle.
But don’t tell them that. You’d probably be inciting further violence.
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