But I think an equally plausible theory is they were caught flatfooted because they saw the Nazis as relatively harmless, and/or they saw the rally as a conflict between two sort of equally rowdy sides.
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They clearly underestimated the Nazis' desire for violence, and, per the report, also were pretty hung up on the potential for fentanyl needle-wielding antifa supersoldiers to create havoc. (Which is crazy.)
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So yeah I think the question of how the cops view anti-fascist community members -- as potential allies or as another group of undesirables to be managed -- is pretty central.
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And finally, as
@EmilyGorcenski has noted, anti-fascist people provided the cops with a lot of intel before the rally that might have helped their planning, if they hadn't largely ignored it. So I don't even really see this as a separate question from the preparation issue.1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @jakefmooney @gmoomaw and
Anyway I hate to pick on a couple of tweets from a long meeting (I left at 10:30 and missed over an hour apparently) but I think the point you were making was sort of reductive.
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Fair point. It was my first observation on the line of questioning from council, but it expanded as the night went on
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Sure, like I said, I don't want to pick on a half-thought. It just started me thinking about this issue. Also, to your other points ... I would be pretty surprised if there wasn't serious talk of people being fired. Keep in mind also that a new council starts next month.
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Replying to @jakefmooney @gmoomaw and
I personally was kind of tickled to see Bob Fenwick, who a lot of people have viewed with skepticism, specifically get into that issue.
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There's a lot to say about Bob these past few months. He's very wary of the blame being placed squarely on the two Black men in positions of authority, with good reason. At the same time, accountability needs to be had.
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Replying to @EmilyGorcenski @jakefmooney and
I don't think this report re-litigated "antifa" good or bad at all. I think it started and ended with the assumption that the question of who instigated what violence was a question for someone else to answer.
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This is in many ways unsatisfactory, especially from where I'm sitting (i.e., as someone who was deeply emotionally and physically affected by j8, a11, and a12). But I'm not going to fault a report for not doing something it didn't seek to do.
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Replying to @EmilyGorcenski @jakefmooney and
The report did in several places call out times when the UTR folks instigated violence. That kind of went under the radar.
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Replying to @EmilyGorcenski @jakefmooney and
But what is really missing from the conversation about violence isn't instigation, it's proportionality. And it's evident who was disproportionately violent in all of these events. Hint: it wasn't "antifa."
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End of conversation
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