phuqueue wrote:It is worth noting that there have been approximately zero reports, except from the cops themselves, of Molotov cocktails being thrown. There was one photo, now at least a week old, of protesters apparently trying to light what appears to be a Molotov cocktail. As far as I know, there is no other documentation of any Molotov cocktails at the protests, only the words of police. There have been reports of live ammunition fire, but no cop has actually been shot. The only shootings I've heard of so far are minor shootings of protesters (who, admittedly, could have been shot either accidentally or intentionally by other protesters), and last night a journalist tried asking several cops if any of their guns were loaded with live ammunition and they all declined to answer.
Reports on the ground from media and other observers pretty consistently describe indiscriminate use of teargas (not smoke -- people can tell the difference, and while it's smoke sometimes, it's teargas others) and other police provocation. Somebody posted a link on the first page documenting the reactions of various military veterans to police tactics. I've heard from other veterans personally about how ridiculous police tactics have been, how soldiers in active war zones are trained to handle civil unrest. The police don't have a clue. They complain of "Molotov cocktails," but have not produced any. They complain of people throwing "bottles," but decline to elaborate that these are plastic water bottles. They arrest dozens of people, but the vast majority of these arrests are for "failure to disperse" rather than for looting, vandalism, assaulting an officer, etc. These "violent" protests are producing tons of arrests for non-violent offenses.
Although I understand in the abstract where it comes from, I nonetheless find it incredible that anybody can look at what the police are doing in Ferguson with approval. Even the very most generous read is that they're utterly (but innocently, because we're being as generous as possible) incompetent. That anybody is white knighting for the cops here is disgusting. When the state fights the people, who the fuck sides with the state?
Everything you mention has already been directly contradicted by ...
A. Media reports
B. Witness videos (Live streaming/etc)
C. Police calls, hospital records, etc.
D. EM Dispatch and Scanner Traffic
I'm not even going to debate this. 4 people have now been shot by "Protestors" in a 3 day span and are in intensive care at the hospital. The police track how much "Tear gas" they unload, and even Anderson Cooper mentioned last night that for two days now there has not been a single tear gas cannister fired...just smoke to disperse the crowd (Because, believe it or not..synthetic smoke is extremely unpleasant and irritating).
I suppose that QT just happened to burn down by itself?