[krapp]

Police sometimes intend to incite violence at these events as a pretense to breaking up lawful protests. Especially when they are the ones being protested.

edit - changed often to sometimes, since 'often' really isn't accurate. Lazy writing on my part.

[arca_vorago]

Please dont forget that its not just the ones in riot gear either, often the black-block anarchists who start the destruction of property which gives the lea the excuse to kettle/arrest protestors are plain cloths police/contractors acting as agent provocateurs, who then fade into background or even pass through police lines right before the push.

Crowsds are so easily manipulated, its a time old tactic.

[daveguy]

> often the black-block anarchists who start the destruction of property which gives the lea the excuse to kettle/arrest protestors are plain cloths police/contractors acting as agent provocateurs

That sounds very conspiratorial. Is there any evidence for that claim?

[DanBC]

There was a scandal in the UK were undercover police officers went way too far in infiltrating groups, sometimes causing violent (against property) action to happen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28123438

[nosuchthing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

  COINTELPRO (a portmanteau derived from COunter 
  INTELligence PROgram) was a series of covert, and at 
  times illegal, projects conducted by the United 
  States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at 
  surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting and disrupting 
  domestic political organizations.

There seems to be minimal oversight for employees of domestic law entities.