Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Perth, West Australia: Police leapt to the defence of Extinction Rebellion protestors staging their second day of CBD road blockades, after a fed up driver jumped out of his car and snatched the group’s protest banner.
Road rage boils over, police officer injured as climate change activists stop traffic in Perth CBD
By Daile Cross March 23, 2021 — 2.20pm
A man fed up with sitting in a traffic jam caused by Extinction Rebellion protesters in the Perth CBD on Tuesday morning jumped from his car and ran at the activists before being stopped by police.
An ambulance was later called for one police officer who witnesses say may have badly injured his knee stopping the man.
…
Video available here
This echoes a similar incident in London 2019, when protestors attempting to stop a train in Canning Town were beaten up by commuters – though from what I saw the angry Perth man did not hit anyone or resist arrest.
Obviously WUWT does not condone violence, and we certainly support the right to protest. I have never had a problem with having to wait a few minutes for a group of peaceful marchers to pass by in front of me, even if I do not support their cause. People who feel strongly about an issue have a right to be heard.
But Extinction Rebellion seems to go out of their way to provoke confrontation and create inconvenience for ordinary people. Extinction Rebellion don’t block a street for a few minutes or a few hours, their tactic is to blockade key commuter roads for days at a time, holding entire cities hostage to their ignorance.
So it is not really a surprise when someone’s temper finally boils over at Extinction Rebellion’s deliberate provocation.
Update (EW): Some outlets have started removing the video, so another link has been added.
“People who feel strongly about an issue have a right to be heard.”
Only if it’s a real issue. People who feel strongly that CO2 emissions are dangerous do not deserve to be heard. As far as I’m concerned, this is equivalent to falsely yelling fire in a crowded theater. Would anyone who does this deserve to be heard?
They have a right to be heard whether they are right or wrong. But, what they do not have the right to do, is to stop other members of the public going about their business
In general you are right,, the question is, if ER has rights to demonstrate, as they have been declared as possible terrorists.
Terror police’s Extinction Rebellion ‘risk report’ sent out a year ago
This is where I disagree. They do not have a right to be heard. What they have is a right to speak their peace. Just as I have a right to ridicule or not even listen to them.
Yes, freedom does not include the freedom to push your point of view on others to the point of harassment, especially when your point of view is a lie based on provably wrong ideas. Allowing the ignorant to heed these nutjobs is too dangerous, since far too many people lack the the critical thinking skills necessary to look past the barrage of superfluous emotional triggers.
As another example, consider how emotionally driven Trump hate also bypasses critical thinking, which is why Biden was elected. It’s also why he was coerced into believing that unraveling all of the good Trump did is somehow rational.
People with severe TDS likely had no critical thinking skills in the first place.
Exactly Alan.
There are plenty of parks where they can go and hold their peaceful demonstration.
Except NO-ONE would turn up..
These morons are a tiny niche group of low-lifes with nothing better to do with their lives by complain about how good things are..
By blocking major road, they are deliberately causing angst amongst the normal public.
Nobody should be forced to have listen to their GARBAGE or should be affected by their idiocy
GET THE F*** OFF THE ROADS, STINKIES !
They have a right to speak their mind. They have no right to be heard or to interfere with my right not to listen to them. They certainly have no right to force me to listen to them or watch their pointless actions.
Especially when they make their signs from oil.
No one has the “right” to force others to listen to their opinions – no matter how strongly those views are held. This is the problem with the Stinky Rebels – they argue that in the past more passive demonstrations have been generally ignored by the public – so now they “have to” take actions to force the public to listen to their ideas. In the UK the Government have to date been fairly happy to give them a free rein because the Stinkys are essentially acting as the Goverment’s storm troopers to soften the public up and beat them into submission ready for the devastating “climate change” policies that are about to be inflicted upon us.
The ”..right to be heard.” Does not equal the right to block roads.
There are specific laws dealing within blocking roads.
Here, in Victoria Australia the Road Safety Act, and the Road Management Act both have clear powers dealing will blocking roads.
The police or even council local laws officers can ask them to move or issue fines.
It doesn’t matter about their right to be heard.
They have clearly planned an event on the road.
They should apply for a permit to block the road.
They should have to pay for all the traffic management.
They have broken the law.
As others have highlighted protest in a park.
I haven’t worked in Civil for years, but my understanding is that to ‘legally’ block a road – say for legitimate construction work or repair – you are required to provide risk analysis and reduction plans under the OH&S laws.
Someone should be legally butchering these people.
They were given move on orders, if they refuse that they would have been arrested. So the technicality in WA is you can block a road until given a move on notice from a policeman. On the prior Monday police arrested 28 protesters in the city after they hosted a “mass die-in” on St Georges Terrace, lying down and refusing to move. They obviously got the message and cleared the road when given move on orders on Tuesday.
Yes, but you are in Victoria. Chairman Dan’s Woke Act supersedes both those.
Under that Act you can be arrested for blocking your kitchen if you fail to support the correct movements.
If you do support the correct movements the police will happily take a knee in front of you while you scream abuse.
Same in Western Australia the health act is very wide ranging, they even have the power to forcibly take blood samples if they require here. You keep making out Vic is worse than anywhere else perhaps look at the laws for each state.
The problem is, who decides what is a legitimate issue? Joe Biden?
I think blocking CBD roads for days on end is unacceptable, but if a group of lunatics want to tell everyone the world is ending, let everyone else have a good laugh.
“The problem is, who decides what is a legitimate issue? Joe Biden?”
In Australia?
Wholly excessive use of force by the police.
He “…was later charged with common assault, obstructing public officers and disorderly conduct.”
I didn’t see an assault (by him);
I didn’t see him obstructing any public officers;
and charging him with disorderly conduct while ignoring the idiots blocking traffic is nuts (does Australia have any ‘equal protection’ type language in it’s governing standards?)
The idiot that hurt his knee deserves the pain (although he will likely get amply rewarded by getting to take a few months vacation with pay).
And imagine fallout if this guy with had significantly more melanin (and he had torn down a Trump banner instead).
The charges will likely be all dropped after he has spend a day or so in jail. Lawsuit is in order.
Exactly. Sue the police department for failure to carry out their duty to enforce the law: the law that says it’s illegal to block a road for anything other than an emergency.
looked to me as if the cops bowled HIM over rather than him actively resist or hurt them
Yup, watched the video and all I saw was officers grabbing him after he tore the (plastic?) banner from the protesters hands. I didn’t see the individual initiate or resist but the video is short.
Principles of equality have been replaced with religious concepts of equity and secular concepts of political congruence.
Unfortunately, the legal notion of assault is not the same as what actual people deem it.
Physical force is not required for an act to be assault; that would be battery.
Oral utterances, along with a credible possibility that force could result, …
Blah, blah, blah.
We all need our safe spaces.
With all the gyms closed, throwing every arrestee to the ground is a good way to burn off donut energy. Just call it Ozzie Rules.
From Blacks Law Dictionary:
“Any willful attempt or threat to inflict injury upon the person of another, when coupled with an apparent present ability to do so, and any intentional display of force such as would give the victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm.”
I did not look up ‘injury’ to see if it included ’emotional’ as a specific form of injury…. Nor do I know about any case law that says taking something out of the hands of someone else in an aggressive manner is assualt.
But, you are right, they can interpret things any way they want to.
Big Bird is blocking Sesame Street.
This episode brought to you by the letters G, O, T and R.
Get Off The Road!
What I find so odd in the current situation in the UK is that we have laws preventing groups of people gathering together – for whatever purpose – to restrict the transmission of the Covid virus. During the past year there have been protests by various groups. Some protesting against the lockdown, some protesting against restrictions of freedom to protest and another protesting in memory of a woman who died in a violent attack; none of these protests had any aggressive intent and yet all of these were policed aggressively, and members of the public were arrested. Other protests, marking the death of drug-dealing, violent criminal in the USA, and others seeking to destroy the basis of our economy and democracy, were allowed to proceed with police officers doing nothing to prevent violent excesses and damage and, even, kow-towing to the false premises of racial tension in the USA being mirrored in the UK. Quite who makes the operational decisions in the varying responses is never made clear. All I know is that people advocating reasonable causes with which I can have some sympathy seem to be subject to police hostility, whilst those who advocate a nihilistic future for the country are allowed to break the law unhindered. ‘Those the gods wish to destroy; they first make mad.’ We must be mad !
Police actions certainly in the UK are a reflection of paranoia and panic amongst our supposed Elders & Betters.
They really are scared of something……
Yet as you say there is a lot of Covid in the UK. Allowing selected large groups to protest is probably not doing them any favours health wise.
Screw ’em.
Not the Australia I remember from the late 80’s….. Those cops should have yanked the sign down instead of the normal person!
At least the cop who helped those idiots paid for it with his/her knee.
Want to see the Australia of the future? Look no further than Victoria.
Whilst I don’t condone violence I can’t help but think it would be nice if sometimes those who provoke were to get their just desert’s. I think the guy who got arrested would feel the same.
For the “STINKIES” I suggest balloon bombs full of a Dynamic Lifter slurry with an indelible dye of some sort.
I’ve always thought a tractor towing a muck spreader would disperse even the most determined crowd, clean up could be done by anyone smelling of sh*t.
Same principle involved. Except they probably wouldn’t notice
They are called “STINKIES” for a reason
They used to have lorries that came and emptied out septic tanks.
One of those with the pump in reverse would be the go. !!
I think your slurry balloon bombs would be the best to watch, imagine that on the news it’d get more viewers than a royal wedding.
Satisfying imagery aside, a vacuum pump reversed will produce nothing more than a dribble. The muck-spreader would be more impressive.
I was thinking maybe cattle feed-lot run-off. !
fred250,
Have you ever considered butyric acid? It is a colorless liquid that has the fragrance of vomit and other stinky things. A chem student in college deposited some in our dorm HVAC system and it took weeks before the stench fully dissipated!
I can’t think of anything that would be more descriptive of most peoples feelings towards XR demonstrators than a little butyric acid in a water balloon or squirt gun!
Organophosphines and selenides are truly obnoxious compounds. Worthy of the protesters.
What I wonder is what would happen if birthers or creationists blocked the streets protesting that no one was listening to their cause. They would be arrested immediately and put away for a long time. So why not the ER protesters?
Yes, I know about butyric acid.
12th year prank, (a long time ago when you could brew it up in the science lab)
…. some guys spread some on all the school steps hand rails 🙂
Sometimes they do. I remember reading of a case where a grad student was murdered by his neighbor. Turns out the psyc grad was carefully provoking the neighbor in order to record and study his responses. The neighbor snapped.
Very tragic. I think the grad student got a lot more than his just desert’s.
But he should get a Darwin Award.
Curious – Down votes.
Are people implying the grad student got LESS then his just deserts? Am I missing something? Do we just hate psyc grads out of principle?
I just thought death for annoying someone was a bit harsh.
When you think of it, the grad student was a bit of a sociopath. And, it’s doubtful this was any kind of an approved venture. This sort of “experiment” usually requires the informed consent of the subject. Not to mention the student was basically weaponizing his training. Inasmuch as it’s difficult to say when any given individual has reached the end of his or her rope, my father’s dictum “No sympathy for self-inflicted injuries” applies.
I don’t know much about this except what’s been said on this thread, but if you’re going to deliberately drive someone to despair and rage its not going to end well. I stand corrected, your father’s dictum is correct and the student probably did get his just desert’s. Still tragic, one dead one locked up and lots of heartbreak for both families.
I was jokingly giving a daughters friend (psych major) a hard time about the ‘known’ mental issues with psychologists and psychiatrists … she accepted/acknowldged & confirmed that they had recently discussed in one of her classes that a large percentage have significant problems.
Cause or effect? I continued “… are you hiding your wackyness now, or are your studies going to twist your id into your ego in the future?”
She didn’t know, but said she would check with professor (never got back to me on that one).
You have a right to protest and be heard – not to harass and intimidate.
You interfere with traffic and you could easily be putting peoples lives in danger – like someone on the way to a hospital.
.
No, that is not true.
They have the right to speak, but NOBODY can be forced to listen.
Where do we donate for legal defense?
“People who feel strongly about an issue have a right to be heard.” Not if it infringes on my rights.
They do not think like you and I. Their mission is of paramount importance therefore they will trample your rights to exercise theirs. Saving the world justifies any action is the only thought floating around in their otherwise empty heads. If they were denied access to anything made or powered by oil they might begin to have different thoughts.
Don’t they have any fire hoses handy?
The sad part is that this is the exact type of reaction these quacks are going for.
I don’t think it is. I think XR actually see themselves as leaders of a people’s revolution. They are expecting everyone else to get out of their cars and join the protest, tear down all the fossil fuel infrastructure.
That is the most visual sign of their mental defect. It’s one thing to talk about pie in the sky. It’s quite another to expect anyone to dine on it. They have diseased minds like many SJWs.
I think both you and Michael are right.
Yes, they see themselves as the leaders of the righteous, but not yet enlightened, but, at the same time, they need the evil adversary as a focus for the struggle because the struggle is what it’s all about.
Eric, I’m sad to say that, for that comment, I feel it is quite naïve. There are many extremists who will attach themselves to a bolshie rebellion for the jive: I reckon they haven’t a clue about (cough) CC.
There is a safety concern. It is well established that these mobs will block and assault people on the street, in their cars. Ironically, this guy is rebelling against extinction.
From what i’ve seen, there is no concern about the innocent uninvolved person in their car being assaulted, whether in AU or US (or anywhere else)
I really don’t think they need to advertise that they are bird-brains. We already know that.
The police?
They don’t have the right to delay me in my daily life. Period.
So infuriating. Police stand around, effectively protecting activist XR loons who’re blocking roads and preventing the public from going about their business.
Only when a frustrated member of the public pushes back do they get involved. 100% all wrong.
That’s exactly right. When were the police given the right to protect law breakers? The incident should bever been allowed to happen. Blocking a public thoroughfare is against the law. Perhaps citizens should block access to the police’s favorite doughnut shop.
The purpose of these protests IS to induce violence. Violence maximizes publicity.
Yet fire extinguishers contain CO2. Amazing the way they want to combat fires when the fire services have CO2.
I’ve heard of farmers around here helping protester off the roads with manure spreaders. Don’t know if they use them much around Perth, but surely they have Honey Wagons with high pressure discharge pumps.
Maybe a double dose for the uniforms who’s real job is to keep the roads clear.
Too harsh?
Happened in the UK on a farm when “protesters” setup camp on his property and he set about spraying his property with pig shit! The “protesters” just happened to be in his way on his property.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-lancashire-36160025
What really irks me about the XR and other climate protesters is when they disrupt traffic or other activity by laying in the street and with a mass fake death protest. The link below is from Perth and perhaps is part of the protest where the incident in the posting happened….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fox8yFoNynY
In the past, they have tried to shut down entire sections of London by blocking bridges. Cult-like behavior by any other name is still a cult.
Wow, there are a lot of idiots, seemingly everywhere.
Oops. The video in my comment above is from Melbourne, not Perth.
I notice that comments are turned off on the video..
WISE choice !!
What they are doing is ALIENATING the majority of the people.
The ONLY message they are getting across is that they are a load of low-life gutter-trash.
Truly staggering just how many people are totally ignorant of how stuff works! There they all are, carrying on about how CO2 and fossil fuels are going to destroy the planet all wearing their plastic clothes, carrying their plastic banners, using their plastic phones, and wearing their plastic trainers. At least the police appear to have been arresting a few of them but IMO, ALL of them should have been rounded up and jailed for blocking traffic.
I am so grateful to be living in Portugal where such folly is not happening. Back in 2018, when we held a climate conference in Porto, the disloyal opposition was unable to muster any demonstrators to block access to our meeting. The best they could manage was a few lame threats.
If the STINKIES held their protest in a park..
NO-ONE would bother turning up
They would have ZERO crowd.
I wonder how this would have played out if the protest was about the covid lockdowns. I have a feeling the police would have cleared out the protesters in the blink of an eye.
Why are they not up in Iceland protesting the newest volcano Fagradalsfjall, a baby the started erupting a few days ago? It’s grown a HUGE lava field emits large amounts of noxious gases such as CO, methane and a few othes, and this is in addition to building a pair of cones that allow even more volume of noxious gases, plus lava flows, to be released?
How come these people don’t care about that? Add Etna’s eruptions to it (lost track of the number of months, but I think it’s almost 2 years now) and there seems to be no end in sight for Etna’s activity. So why aren’t they busy protesting that and the Japanese volcano that just came on line?
These people are really missing the boat on what they should protest. Just my view.
XR were due to demonstrate in the UK on the 27th March, but have postponed it until the 1st May. The reason being that, with the easing of lock-down the roads will be busier and thus they can inconvenience more people. The idea will be for one person to sit in the road, but be supported by 6-8 others who will merge into the crowd. In the meantime XR have organised a whole series of on-line training courses: these include: Know your rights, how to video the event, how to cam people down and so on.
It’s all very well for them to know their rights but no-one tells us what our rights are – if any. I would imagine that if anyone tried to carry them, very gently, out of the road then they would get done for assault – all filmed by the XR videographer. All very frustrating for those held up by their protest. So no wonder the Tube Train idiots had to be saved from getting a good kicking.
It certainly seems crazy when the police arrest people who are trying to go about their lawful business and protect people who are disrupting people who are going about their lawful business. The silent majority needs to not be silent, the conservatives need to not turn the other cheek but start fighting (figuratively speaking) the good fight.. otherwise pretty soon every one will be too scared to speak up!!
arrest people who are trying to go about their lawful business and protect people who are disrupting people who are going about their lawful business.
This appears to be the norm anymore. Everything is upside-down.
Where’s Crocodile Dundee when you need him?
The more woke the government, these days, the more the police willingly oppress the people, especially in their exercise of personal freedoms.
“You call that a knife? This, is a knife….”! Loved it. But seeing their reaction to this motorist now, I’m surprised the Aussie police didn’t arrest CD and let the mugger go.
As with any cult religious movement, XR demonstrators are convinced of the rectitude of their beliefs! They have NO idea how many people are infuriated by their temper tantrums artfully disguised as street theater; I think they are probably creating more enemies than friends!
Unfortunately, until more people are willing to stand up to them and call out their lies and distortions, they will continue to win the battle in the press. It would be nice to see counter-demonstrators with a few select graphs of geologic scale CO2 and temp trends, or the extent of global greening; to show the press the real climate story! A large slingshot for water balloons is another possibility!
The State Government in West Australia, like ours in Victoria, is full of Labour lefties who crave the power, the money and the corruption that comes with backing green idiocy like carbon-neutral electricity generation.
They hope that ER will help their greed without them having to show their hand. Many police are also converts, so reluctant to act neutrally to uphold written law.
In a nutshell, we are well down the path of being stuffed by violent leftists who have no idea about the complexity of what they protest about. Dogma rules. It is sad, maybe a reflection of education systems gone badly wrong over the decades. Geoff S
Meanwhile here in Perth this event hardly made the news, not even the ABC. Today’s “The West Australian” had a tiny ( about 9 sentence) piece at the bottom of page 16, the last three below –
“Yesterday was the second day of protests by the activists. Dressed as “canaries,” about two dozen protesters pretended to “die” on a busy intersection between Hay Street and William Street. Several were arrested.”
That’s embarrassing for ER supporters 🙂
“Australian Police Attack Counter Protestor” is just as valid a headline as “Perth Driver Arrested During Protest”
No wonder some outlets are removing the video. It makes the over reacting Aussie police look like thugs.
They are, but they do get the shit end of the stick.
I’m betting that the guy who pulled the banner down voted Labor in the state election just over a week ago. Join the dots – he’ll have 4 years to regret his decision…..
The stupid irony of protests to save the planet is they increase carbon emissions.
Cars sitting idling, diversions, crawling along because of road blocks by protesters use more fuel than freely open roads.
Even if you had a BEV, displays, sensors, AirCon etc use more battery which then need more charging later on. Even from green sources, it’s an opportunity lost to use that green energy to avoid fossil fuel energy.
Using more power from even a 80% green grid will not increase green energy generation when needed, only fossil fuel energy can be turned up&down. Only when more green power than demand is available can you use the excess that would be otherwise wasted (requires more emissions to build). Pumped hydro (limited by rain) & BESS require excess energy to recharge again, so using more doesn’t have the expected savings.
If you waste energy you lose the opportunity to use that stored energy to replace fossil fuel by someone else’s needs.
Eric ==> Well, I don’t know about the use of the phrase “Obviously WUWT does not condone violence” — there is no person or central opinion source “WUWT” other than Anthony Watts — he alone speaks for WUWT as an entity. I’m sure Anthony Watts does not condone violence from long association with him here and in personal communication.
I’m glad you don’t condone violence either.
But, that said, supporting the right of citizens to oppose the destructive actions of other citizens, even to the point of grabbing their protest banners, is not something that needs to be apologized for.
I’m not an expert on Australian law, so I don’t know if it is legal there to protest in such a way as to harm other people by blocking their access to their jobs and livelihoods. If it is, it shouldn’t be. If it isn’t, the police should have been clearing the road making it unnecessary for an individual to take personal action.
When the authorities refuse to do their jobs to protect the rights of all the people, the people lose.
Kip, my heart goes out to the frustrated motorist, but it is crossing a line to walk up to people who weren’t presenting a physical threat and snatch something out of their hands, however much we all might personally think the stupid hippies deserved it. I certainly think the police were way out of line, letting the protestors block the street for multiple days, and jumping on and assaulting someone who did not appear to offer any resistance to arrest.
We all condone violence!
But we have our preferences about how it is done and by whom and when.
Dropping high explosives on ISIS militants and blowing them to smithereens is pretty violent. Most of us approve of that.
Watching NHL fights and MMA bouts is pretty popular. More than feelings get hurt.
I hope the Oz legal system can realistically judge just how trivial our guy’s line crossing was.
Eric ==> But do you know if the protesters were breaking the law? What is the law there on such anti-social activity?
Inquiring minds want to know who was breaking the law: the motorist? the protesters? the police? all-of-the-above?
XR would have needed permission to block the road
They either had permission or not.
If they had permission wouldn’t detours have been set up so others could avoid the area?
It is not crossing the line. If others were bold enough to do what that man did, and leave it at that, the world would be a better place.
Forcing someone to stay in one place … not allowing them free movement in a public place is what is out of line. The man didn’t just take something out of their hands for the impact of the action, he was clearing part of the the obstruction. It was not just reasonable, it was laudable.
If others had been bold enough to do what that man did – bearing in mind the police )over) reaction to his protest – I figure XR would have stood back and enjoyed the punch up between law-abiding people and the police who are meant to protect them. Job done for them (XR). Anything ese I say would be modded!
I think XR people may be missing some kind of vital brain nutrient.
Oh, but no. They eat well, Mike. Plenty of nutrients. Just no brain cells to feed.
Aren’t most XR idiots vegetarians?
You are what you eat – and they eat vegetables and nuts 😉
If you are not some form of state official, police, fire service, SES, ambulance etc, it is against the law to block roads in Australia.
30 comments then closed
funny how a climate skeptics opinions isnt allowed to be seen or heard via msms etc but these dipsticks get plenty of media
Yes, violence is called for. These anti-human scumbags must be physically punished. They claim to want extinction for humans, start it with them.
If Aus has similar rules to the UK then XR are causing an obstruction which is an offense.
The Police need to wake up and enforce the law.
By the way the UK is passing a law making demonstrations illegal if they cause disruption.
In the UK, this kind of demonstration will be doubly illegal.
“If Aus has similar rules to the UK” – then the Aussie police will be skateboarding and dancing with the protestors.
How about, in whatever relevant jurisdiction you are in, you go up to the police and ask if the stinkies are lawfully demonstrating and obstructing your use of the queens highway. If the police say yes, you ask from when until when.
If they say no, you ask the police to move the stinkies on or arrest them for obstruction. If the police refuse, tell them you are going to make a citizens arrest.
March up to the nearest stinkie obstructing your use of the road, place your hand gently on his shoulder and shout; i am making a citizens arrest on you for obstruction, you must now accompany me to the nearest policeman / policestation’. call the policeman over. etc
Film it all.
One state (don’t recall which) is currently considering legislation to make it “less illegal”? (or something like that) to drive through protestors who are blocking roads, even if it causes them injury. Not commenting on if that’s good or not, just sharing the info.
Intentionally blocking traffic is NOT “peaceful protest”.
“Obviously WUWT does not condone violence…”
Except when it comes from five coppers pinning a man to the ground because he was doing their job for them.
It’s unfortunate that the rest of his rugby teammates weren’t there to support him. And more is the pity they were not….
People have a right to talk to themselves, as a legally sanctioned group they can ask for permission from the rest of us to march, but they have no right to block a public highway. In most English speaking countries this is illegal. When the police no longer uphold the law – too busy bending the knee or dancing around with the protesters – it is corrosive to democracy and encourages the kind of behaviour that resulted in the storming of the Capitol in Washington. We all suffer.
Grabbing a sign to get it out of his way is violence? Maybe of the mildest kind. The only real violence I saw was five policemen escalating the situation, no discussion, no calming intervention, just outright attacking the man without provocation. Is this how police are trained in that city? All five officers should be suspended without pay, investigated, then fired, and the man should be compensated for damages done to him.
The ER spokesperson didn’t even get her facts right. The man made no attempt to assault the protesters. He simply grabbed their sign (made of hydrocarbons).