Some extremely common lies used to turn the public against a protest

varkarrus:

queeranarchism:

“Most of those who were arrested at the protest about this local issue were not from the neighbourhood”
Very often untrue. Outsiders posing as ‘concerned local citizens’ does happen but this is almost entirely a strategy of white supremacists. Anarchists and other left wing radicals don’t use this stategy as it runs counter to their goal of winning over the people.
Some ways the police manipulate statistics:
– defining ‘the neighbourhood’ in extremely narrow terms
– assuming all those arrested who did not give their address are outsiders
– just plain making up statistics.

“The road block prevented emergency services from doing their job”
Almost always untrue. Road blocks pretty much without exception allow ambulances to pass. When police report this some likely explanations are:
– ‘emergency services couldn’t pass’ just means ‘the police couldn’t pass’
– the police organized a blatant trap, driving an ambulance to the blockade followed closely by lots and lots of riot cops, and the blockade didn’t fall for the obvious trick.
– it’s pure fiction

“A mindless mob destroyed it’s own neighbourhood.”
Just not what protestors, rioters or mobs do. Some reasons you may hear it:
– protestors entered local stores to get essential supplies to defend themselves against police violence
– protestors destroyed windows close to protest lines because that is much safer than waiting for a rubber bullet to smash that window and send glass flying everywhere
– locals damaged businesses known to collaborate with the police
– locals destroyed surveillance equipment
– locals accepted an amount of physical damage to their neighbourhood in the struggle and their efforts to clean up and repair the next day were not covered by the media
– the police send people into the protest whose only intention was to cause mayhem and reck the neighbourhood.
– More fiction

There are way more like these and different police forces and governments have a different set if them that they use often. Know some? Reblog and add!

Can I get sources on some of these so I can use it to absolutely decimate anyone who dares to throw one of these talking points my way? I’m sure they wouldnt take it seriously if I sourced tumblr.

No, I’m afraid I don’t have any sources ready. These were written based on my own experiences and experiences of others and in many cases the lie is the only thing that was documented in a ‘reliable’ source. I didn’t really make this post to convince anyone, I made it for fellow activists (who already know that cops lie), so they would have an idea what to expect.