5 ms·

"the police said some firefighters were reportedly having cinder blocks heaved at them as they responded to emergencies." That's pathetic.

feld 12y ago
and their fire hoses vandalized, apparently
- chippy 12y ago
  yep, they were slashed with knives live on CNN news.
Zigurd 12y ago
Sometimes vandalism is faked, created in order to generate propaganda images: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/why-were-police-cruisers-left-to-burn-at-g20-summit/article572789/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/why-were-police-...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  And sometimes it's deemed "sports fans taking to the streets". http://mic.com/articles/116680/11-stunning-images-highlight-the-double-standard-of-reactions-to-riots-like-baltimore http://mic.com/articles/116680/11-stunning-images-highlight-...
  - tectec 12y ago
    That list is misleading. One of the items is the Vancouver hockey riot in 2011. It was definitely called a riot at the time, and two years later they were still prosecuting the offenders. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vpd-recommends-25-new-charges-over-vancouver-stanley-cup-riots/article13368218/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vpd-rec...
    - ceejayoz 12y ago
      The list itself states ESPN called that one a riot. Part of the double standard is that even when it gets called a riot, we don't get the same hand-wringing about "where were the fathers", dog-whistle terms like "urban thugs", etc.
- soylentcola 12y ago
  Jumping on your comment since it seems most relevant, but the topic of propaganda is one that has mostly gone unmentioned. Over the past few days, there has been a massive uptick in the use of social media to spread propaganda and incite further unrest. The most striking examples I've seen are the (seemingly) organized campaign on Twitter called #baltimorelootcrew. This tag is allegedly being used by looters to post images of people they assaulted and of items they stole. If you look at the accounts of the posters, their tweet histories often go back a few days with some really nasty racist stereotypes that would have probably fallen under Poe's Law if not for the fact that earlier Twitter history is loaded with nothing but "gamergate" and other social-justice-trolling stuff. So far it would seem that quite a few of these troll accounts are trying to fan the fire of racial tension. Then there is the /r/baltimore subreddit. Non-residents from racist and troll subs have piled in and begun posting false "eyewitness" accounts under fake names as well as downvote brigading anyone who is trying to set the record straight (from right there on the ground). While the world is watching the baltimore subreddit, the most upvoted info is often completely fabricated to piss people off. And then yesterday, there was the reddit live blog which was viewed by at least 10k people at any given time. A few folks who claimed to be transcribing the police scanner logs were in actuality posting false reports of incidents all over the city (which were not actually happening). At one point I messaged the account that was running it and somehow got replies from multiple accounts. When I mentioned that a lot of the info being posted was erroneous, the main poster replied "it's only fake until it's real". This was also where they kept spamming the alleged flyers advertising more planned riots later in the day. As far as I can tell, these flyers did not originate in the community but from online trolls. People all over town and around the nation are following Twitter, Reddit, and other social sites but so much of the information is either malicious or part of the dangerous rumor mill that makes claims without verification and only serves to agitate people in a tense situation.
jamesfe 12y ago
More than pathetic, it proves that a subset of the protestors aren't really sympathetic to the cause - because this does nothing to solve racial tension, if anything, it exacerbates.
- akilism 12y ago
  Who's trying to solve racial tension? People are just asking that the police do not beat them up and/or kill them.
- jonlucc 12y ago
  I think Baltimore is run by a black mayor and a mostly-black city council. It can't be written off as race problems this time.
akilism 12y ago
the police say a lot of things though don't they.
MagicWishMonkey 12y ago
And the cops helped start the riots by throwing rocks at protestors. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/police-throw-rocks-baltimore_n_7156614.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/police-throw-rocks-...
- ianhawes 12y ago
  Let me help you out here. These were not protestors. These were rioters. HuffPo's coverage of the riots has been abhorrent at best. The gathering of people in the video consisted of teenagers organizing after school yesterday to cause mayhem and "create a purge".
- crusso 12y ago
  That's a bit of a leap to say that the cops helped start the riots because there are a couple of incidents of cops throwing something. From the video on the link you referenced, it looked like the cops were in full retreat from a wild crowd throwing objects. One of the cops half-heartedly tossed something back... inappropriate response on his part, but hardly evidence that he was the instigator in anything.
  - Lancey 12y ago
    Police do a bad thing: "You can't blame all cops for a few bad apples in isolated incidents." Protesters do a bad thing: "Pathetic rioters! Ungrateful youths! Sit down and do as you're told!"
    - vinay427 12y ago
      No one's saying that. My comment simply mentioned that cinder blocks were apparently being thrown at firefighters by some protesters. I fully support peaceful protests as they are an effective way to enact change, but violent acts really only harm innocents and turn public support away.
      - Lancey 12y ago
        I meant that as a response to crusso. When protesters throw things, it's a blight on all protesters, but when cops throw things, it's just an incident.
kisstheblade 12y ago
Well in sweden (which is to supposed to be a peaceful nation) there are city districts where the police can't go because the "natives" try to kill them. Unsurprisingly these places are full of immigrants. You can pooh-pooh over how they have lousy conditions and are poor and riot because of that, but the fact is that they get everything they need from the state (food, shelter, spending money, schooling, healthcare), and also there has always been poor people in sweden and they haven't had problems with eg. cops or looting and rioting. So it's probably some kind of cultural thing for people from some places.
- somedangedname 12y ago
  You are referring to the report about Malmö & co.? I'm having a hard time finding an english-language analysis which isn't frothing-at-the-mouth xenophobia. If you know of one I would very much like to read it.
- petercooper 12y ago
  FWIW, there are numerous areas in the UK infamous for having firefighters and even medics get attacked in the street - it predominantly seems to be from poor indigenous British kids and teenagers though, certainly not immigrants.

feld 12y ago

and their fire hoses vandalized, apparently

chippy 12y ago
yep, they were slashed with knives live on CNN news.

Zigurd 12y ago

Sometimes vandalism is faked, created in order to generate propaganda images: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/why-were-police-cruisers-left-to-burn-at-g20-summit/article572789/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/why-were-police-...

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
ceejayoz 12y ago
And sometimes it's deemed "sports fans taking to the streets". http://mic.com/articles/116680/11-stunning-images-highlight-the-double-standard-of-reactions-to-riots-like-baltimore http://mic.com/articles/116680/11-stunning-images-highlight-...
- tectec 12y ago
  That list is misleading. One of the items is the Vancouver hockey riot in 2011. It was definitely called a riot at the time, and two years later they were still prosecuting the offenders. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vpd-recommends-25-new-charges-over-vancouver-stanley-cup-riots/article13368218/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vpd-rec...
  - ceejayoz 12y ago
    The list itself states ESPN called that one a riot. Part of the double standard is that even when it gets called a riot, we don't get the same hand-wringing about "where were the fathers", dog-whistle terms like "urban thugs", etc.
soylentcola 12y ago
Jumping on your comment since it seems most relevant, but the topic of propaganda is one that has mostly gone unmentioned. Over the past few days, there has been a massive uptick in the use of social media to spread propaganda and incite further unrest. The most striking examples I've seen are the (seemingly) organized campaign on Twitter called #baltimorelootcrew. This tag is allegedly being used by looters to post images of people they assaulted and of items they stole. If you look at the accounts of the posters, their tweet histories often go back a few days with some really nasty racist stereotypes that would have probably fallen under Poe's Law if not for the fact that earlier Twitter history is loaded with nothing but "gamergate" and other social-justice-trolling stuff. So far it would seem that quite a few of these troll accounts are trying to fan the fire of racial tension. Then there is the /r/baltimore subreddit. Non-residents from racist and troll subs have piled in and begun posting false "eyewitness" accounts under fake names as well as downvote brigading anyone who is trying to set the record straight (from right there on the ground). While the world is watching the baltimore subreddit, the most upvoted info is often completely fabricated to piss people off. And then yesterday, there was the reddit live blog which was viewed by at least 10k people at any given time. A few folks who claimed to be transcribing the police scanner logs were in actuality posting false reports of incidents all over the city (which were not actually happening). At one point I messaged the account that was running it and somehow got replies from multiple accounts. When I mentioned that a lot of the info being posted was erroneous, the main poster replied "it's only fake until it's real". This was also where they kept spamming the alleged flyers advertising more planned riots later in the day. As far as I can tell, these flyers did not originate in the community but from online trolls. People all over town and around the nation are following Twitter, Reddit, and other social sites but so much of the information is either malicious or part of the dangerous rumor mill that makes claims without verification and only serves to agitate people in a tense situation.

jamesfe 12y ago

More than pathetic, it proves that a subset of the protestors aren't really sympathetic to the cause - because this does nothing to solve racial tension, if anything, it exacerbates.

akilism 12y ago
Who's trying to solve racial tension? People are just asking that the police do not beat them up and/or kill them.
jonlucc 12y ago
I think Baltimore is run by a black mayor and a mostly-black city council. It can't be written off as race problems this time.

akilism 12y ago

the police say a lot of things though don't they.

MagicWishMonkey 12y ago

And the cops helped start the riots by throwing rocks at protestors. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/police-throw-rocks-baltimore_n_7156614.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/police-throw-rocks-...

ianhawes 12y ago
Let me help you out here. These were not protestors. These were rioters. HuffPo's coverage of the riots has been abhorrent at best. The gathering of people in the video consisted of teenagers organizing after school yesterday to cause mayhem and "create a purge".
crusso 12y ago
That's a bit of a leap to say that the cops helped start the riots because there are a couple of incidents of cops throwing something. From the video on the link you referenced, it looked like the cops were in full retreat from a wild crowd throwing objects. One of the cops half-heartedly tossed something back... inappropriate response on his part, but hardly evidence that he was the instigator in anything.
- Lancey 12y ago
  Police do a bad thing: "You can't blame all cops for a few bad apples in isolated incidents." Protesters do a bad thing: "Pathetic rioters! Ungrateful youths! Sit down and do as you're told!"
  - vinay427 12y ago
    No one's saying that. My comment simply mentioned that cinder blocks were apparently being thrown at firefighters by some protesters. I fully support peaceful protests as they are an effective way to enact change, but violent acts really only harm innocents and turn public support away.
    - Lancey 12y ago
      I meant that as a response to crusso. When protesters throw things, it's a blight on all protesters, but when cops throw things, it's just an incident.

kisstheblade 12y ago

Well in sweden (which is to supposed to be a peaceful nation) there are city districts where the police can't go because the "natives" try to kill them. Unsurprisingly these places are full of immigrants. You can pooh-pooh over how they have lousy conditions and are poor and riot because of that, but the fact is that they get everything they need from the state (food, shelter, spending money, schooling, healthcare), and also there has always been poor people in sweden and they haven't had problems with eg. cops or looting and rioting. So it's probably some kind of cultural thing for people from some places.

somedangedname 12y ago
You are referring to the report about Malmö & co.? I'm having a hard time finding an english-language analysis which isn't frothing-at-the-mouth xenophobia. If you know of one I would very much like to read it.
petercooper 12y ago
FWIW, there are numerous areas in the UK infamous for having firefighters and even medics get attacked in the street - it predominantly seems to be from poor indigenous British kids and teenagers though, certainly not immigrants.