Just before Christmas a group held a protest at the Mall of America. The police overreacted to say the least and had a ton of officers on site in riot gear hoping the opportunity would present itself for them to thumb some skulls. Since the protesters could be goaded into a fight the officers didn’t get to play their violent game. All in all the protesters really made the Bloomington Police Department look silly and, in my opinion, completely pathetic. Not surprisingly the police want revenge and they’re seeking it by charging some of the protesters with ridiculous offenses. Just read some of these charges:
— Aiding and abetting trespassing
[…]
— Aiding and abetting unlawful assembly
[…]
— Aiding and abetting disorderly conduct
[…]
— Aiding and abetting public nuisance
How can aiding and abetting public nuisance be an offense? Seriously. Public nuisance is already such a minor offense that it’s hardly worth noting so aiding and abetting somebody who is a public nuisance is even less noteworthy. At most the protesters could be charged with trespassing, although the Mall is a receiver of stolen tax money so I would actually argue that every Minnesotan is a partial owner and therefore the Mall is a public space. The rest of these charges, no matter how you look at them, are trite bullshit.
The charges are complete bullshit with a possible exception of the trespassing one.
My only problem is that the protestors only went to the Mall of America because they knew they would be arrested. Two dozen people outside of City Hall isn’t going to get news, but two dozen people getting arrested for protesting definitely will.
As much as you and I may admire them for their willingness to get arrested for peaceful protesting, the majority of the general populace won’t. Most people I know just think they are assholes.
It wouldn’t surprise me if that were the plan. To get these protestors to look like assholes as much as possible to discredit their cause. It most likely isn’t a coincidence that these groups all across the country and using the exact same tactics.
I honestly don’t think this matters anymore. The majority are going to see any action that upsets the status quo as bad. What’s important, in my opinion, is to find the people who want to upset the status quo and get them working together (or even separately as long as it’s all against the status quo). Protests like this do that.