Are police officers afraid of neo-con whackjobs?

Today, we saw this video:

"David and Goliath" Civil Disobedience September 15, 2007

Then we saw this video:

anti-war protest Washington D.C. (Check THIS One Out !!!)

In the first video, it appears a man jumps a barricade and is immediately set upon by numerous police officers, subdued and arrested. In the second video, a man grabs the personal property of a war-protester and tears it up, then strikes another person with a video camera. One officer attempts to break up the argument of the person whose property is ripped from her hands and destroyed.

So what do we make of this? Are police departments afraid of right-wingers? Why didn’t a half-dozen police officers swoop down on the wingnut, push him to the ground, and bind his hands behind his back while another half-dozen officers stand vigil to keep the mob back, like what happened to the fellow who jumped the barrier?

Possible crimes:
First guy:
jumping a barrier police set up to hold back protesters

Second guy:
Theft (taking a person's property)
Vandalism (destroying a person's property)
Assault (striking the videographer)

It seems the police had more reason to arrest the second guy.

What are we to make of this? Cops are afraid of neo-cons?

The mass of cops agree with the neo-con nutjobs.

Wouldn't you?

reasonably,
Bright

The cops on the street near the freepers were Washington metro
cops (and maybe some FBI police; they were there earlier but
I didn't notice them as we marched by later). They seemed very
cooled out and didn't want to arrest anyone.

The cops at the Capitol are Capitol Police; they were not
nearly as chilled out and some of them were very much afraid
of the anti-war protesters.

You can't directly compare the actions.

I will say, though, if I'd been any of the people assaulted
by the freepers, I would have insisted that the police arrest
the assaulters.

Interesting sidebar you probably didn't hear about:

At Lafayette Park, a freeper-type came running out of the
crowd behind the stage and told the DC cops on site that
he'd been assaulted by the peace protesters. A L-O-N-G
conversation ensued, involving the freeper, police
leadership, some ANSWER leadership and the ANSWER
on-site attorney. After a long time, six or eight
officers made a sweep through the crowd, returning
with no one, and Mr. Freeper eventually departed,
apparently having failed in his mission to cause
trouble.

All in all, I'd say most of the police were doing their
jobs fairly well.

We only encountered one asshole during the entire day:
Just north of the Capitol, seeking directions to Union
Station, Mr. Tesha walked up to a pair of Capitol Cops
sitting in their Capitol Cop Car. Officer-on-the-right
snarled and rolled his window up as Mr. Tesha walked
up, but Mr. Tesha, who isn't afraid of petty displays
by authority figures, shouted his question anyway and
Officer-behind-the-wheel very willingly answered it,
pssiing off Officer-on-the-right even more.

But every other police officer we interacted with
(and we make it a point to do so) was pleasant and
relatively happy to be out in the nice weather earning
good overtime.

Tesha

Eye-witness accounts do tend to offer insight and details overlooked by the "professional journalists" of CorpMedia.

Thanks...:hi:

and it's getting more obvious every day. I'm going to have to read "The Mass Psychology of Fascism". It was recommended reading long before Bush came onto the scene, but all of a sudden seems a 'must read' to help me understand what's going on.

I think most cops buy into the lie that almost all RWingers always support the cops - kinda like the lie about Repukes being 'strong' on the military.

That FReep cretin shoulda been taken down on the goddamn spot the moment he started swinging.

Monster

When have they EVER sided with protestors who were against the policy of authoritarians, corporations, and generally, of "the betters"?

Not since the 60s.

There was a thread a month ago of a protest in one of the eastern states, where a young woman was held down by three officers, each twice her size, AFTER her leg was visibly broken and obviously putting up no resistance. While they held her down, one of the officers pepper-sprayed a photographer.

This is why that whack-a-doo right winger got carte blanche, even though he assaulted women and destroyed private property.

This is why the other whackjobs were allowed to threaten teenagers, yet the police held the TEENAGER back while the whackjobs continued yelling and lunging from behind the barricade scot-free.

This is why a storming of the Blight House would never happen, because the police would most likely fire on the citizenry.

Wouldn't you be more afraid of them than us?