I think what we're seeing in Seattle stems from shortcomings in our legal system. Obviously, the peaceful protesters, while obeying the law, were acting within their rights and in a perfect world would never have been molested by the police. As well, in a perfect world, those vandalizing would've been immediately restrained, if not by the police, by the law abiding citizens present. We don't have a perfect world. Of the two groups, police and protesters, only the police had been given responsibilities by our society. In the confusion, and given the number of people present at the time, there must've been quite a bit of confusion, the police had very limited opportunity to determine if the person they were interracting with at the moment was an ally or an impediment to them carrying out their duty. Wise people would assess the situation and realize that with the number of people involved, NO human, police or otherwise, would be able to determine with any accuracy an appropriate response to their presence and that given the overall behaviour of the crowd and the spirit of the gathering (confrontational) the police would treat everyone as a threat and respond with force.
Yes, the cops followed orders. In this case those orders were correct. Only a fool would expect a different result.
Cheers, PW. |
