Watch: What Happens When "Peaceful" Protesters Catch a Cop
You may perhaps have noticed that anyone protesting on the left is a “peaceful” protester. There’s rarely any other sort.
Whether it was the youths in France during the May 1968 demonstrations that “peacefully” took paving stones from the street and lobbed them at police officers, or the “peaceful” protesters who destroyed Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, or the “peaceful” protesters who ran roughshod over the nation’s capital during the inauguration last year, or the “peaceful” WTO protesters in Seattle back in 1999 who decided that Starbucks really had it coming, it’s always peaceful if it comes from the left. And if it can’t be spun off that way (say, the L.A. riots), it’s an “uprising,” not a riot.
That’s why major media sources tend to ignore videos like one out of Italy that was posted on Facebook on Sunday by a right-leaning politician.
The video can be seen here.
It shows another group of “peaceful” members of the left side of the political spectrum engaging in an orderly debate about first principles with the fine men and women of law enforcement over in the far away land of Italy.
And by “an orderly debate about first principles with the fine men and women of law enforcement,” what I mean is that they assault police officers with flag poles until the officers retreat, and then gather around to kick and maul an officer who happens to have fallen down. See, “peaceful.”
The video was posted by Matteo Salvini, a member of the European Union parliament and leader of Lega Nord, a populist, anti-EU political party that’s taking part in the 2018 national election as part of a center-right coalition.
In the video posting, Salvini laments the violence but gives few details.
“CRAZY,” Salvini’s description reads, according to Google Translate.
“Show this video to your children. Here is the recipe of professionals on the left of NON-VIOLENCE and anti-racism: wildly beat a (policeman)! … But March 4 arrives,” Salvini concludes, referring to the election date.
It’s worth noting Italy has a significantly more problematic history with violent leftism than most of the West.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the country was terrorized by the Brigate Rosse — Red Brigades — a violent communist group that committed terrorist attacks and even managed to kidnap and kill former Prime Minister Aldo Moro.
However, that was quite some time ago, and Italy is now a member in good (if debt-ridden) standing with the European Union. And yet, while videos don’t necessarily tell the whole story (Salvini assiduously has decided against providing a date or location for this clip, although it seems like it would be hard to fake), we’re still seeing this violence in Italy.
And Italy is hardly alone.
Look at what’s happened in places like Berkeley, where supporters of President Donald Trump have been hit over the head with bike locks just for their political beliefs. Or elderly men have been pepper-sprayed merely for speaking their mind.
Salvini’s party seems unlikely to make too much of a dent in the 2018 elections, alas, judging by poll standings reported by the U.K. Express on Sunday. He’s certainly created a lot of protests, though, with leftist groups marching through various cities over his policies on illegal immigration. Here’s another “peaceful” protest from Rome:
Even if Salvini a controversial figure, one wonders how these protesters think they’re winning people over to their side.
One thing is for sure, though: we may not see or hear a lot of Salvini on this side of the Atlantic in the coming months or years, but we’re going to see plenty more of the bestial anti-police violence depicted in this video.
And the media will still call it “peaceful.”
Please like and share on Facebook and Twitter if you think it’s time these “peaceful” protesters got a date in court.
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