If you attack the police, they have been trained to defend themselves. At very least, it's not an intelligent thing to do.

That being said, I am of the consistent opinion that America's police, with their new DHS training and their military equipment, are way out of control.

However, if they are undercover, and trying to behave in a manner that would draw the police into escalating their actions (inciting vandalism, for example) then they get what's coming to them.

And if they turn out to be actual protesters trying to start shit and provoke the police, they deserve it too.

Was there concern that at least one of the police officers was an agent provocateur?

I can't say I blame them. At least in this area, vandals and shit-stirrers tend to hide behind bandanas.

Had I seen them, I would've assumed either cop or shit-stirrer (though in this context, one can be both)

I can see how that would create suspicion.

But the cowards were "attacked" according to whom? The article says that one of the cowards had a hat grabbed from him. Doesn't say by whom or even if it was the coward's own hat. The coward was "knocked to the ground," but there are no details on whether it was intentional, caused by the crowd movement, or if the coward just tripped. There's also no indication that if the coward was maliciously knocked down, whether the person who knocked him down knew the coward was a cop. It's impossible to rule out that the coward may have even been knocked down by one of his brother cops.

Considering the gap between police reports and reality (where it can be checked by contemporaneous videotape) that has shown up time and again over the last several years, I'm reluctant to credit self-reporting by these cowards.

And not fact based.

Not sure what language you think was changed.

You revealed only your state of mind and your bias, neither of which are of interest to me.

Armed men forcing their way into an unarmed crowd in hopes of forcing a confrontation so they can use those weapons would seem to be the very definition of a coward, at least where I come from.

crowd begin assaulting them with violence, they probably do need to wave a firearm to keep the situation from going south.

They had no business there in the first place, of course.

If you interfere with them and they arrest you, they're a cop

...the crowd wasn't violent, they were PISSED and yelling at him in protest of his kneejerk, pigshit actions. The fact that he reacted like a frightened oinker when he TRIPPED was predictable. He shouldn't have been there working to undermine the peaceful protest; much less wave his gun around at people who were doing nothing more than exercising their constitutional rights to give him shit. NO one actually threatened him. That was a figment of his own testosterone-fueled mind. THAT"S why his presence there was such a dangerous, idiotic, and bullshit move by whoever ordered him there.

...these two were trying to incite protesters to violence; banging on windows working to stir protesters into doing something illegal so they could bust them.

CxD ?@CRTNBYDSTRCTN
@Federal_flashes @DaveId those are the ones who were hitting bank windows before T-Mobile got looted! #berkeleyprotests

According to KTVU, here’s how the situation unfolded:

Only a few dozen protesters remained from a mass of between 150 and 200 people. Two CHP officers, both dressed as civilians and wearing bandanas over their faces, were walking with the group when the demonstrators started pointing at them yelling, "Hey, they're undercover, they're cops!"

One Berkeley resident, Dylan, who declined to give his last name, said he pulled off the officer's bandana.

The two CHP officers started to walk away, but the protesters persisted, screaming at the two undercover cops. One of the officers pushed a protester aside. The man responded by pushing back and then the officer tackled him to the ground, handcuffing him.

The crowd, incensed, began to gather around them. The second officer pulled out his gun and pointed it at the crowd. More officers quickly arrived and dispersed the crowd.

"I'm a white man, and I pulled off (the officer's) mask, but they punched a black man," Dylan said. "He got arrested."

Another reporter spoke to witnesses who suggested the two undercover officers were attempting to stir the crowd up and get them to commit crimes. In a series of tweets, Oakland police Lt. Chris Bolton clarified that those armed men were from an “outside” agency and that he would investigate claims about their incitement of violence:

#OaklandProtests If allegation officers incited crime, crowd source video & provide a link so I may forward. Obviously troubling.
— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014

The #OaklandProtest pictured man isn't an OPD officer & not an OPD arrest. OPD 1st responded to scene on report from other agency. 1/1
— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014

Courtney Harrop ?@CourtneyPFB
Here is an image of one of last nights undercovers pointing his gun directly at a person with a camera. #oakland