[ASalazarMX]

This is not exclusive to USA. Since democracies can't indiscriminately arrest dissidents without appearing totalitarian, their workaround is disrupting those movements to criminalize them.

In Mexico, gasoline prices became unregulated in 2017. Historically, governments have made oil a very sensitive national issue, so strong nation-wide opposition was expected. Except it didn't happen. The strategy was simple:

1. Organized looting began almost immediately. Looters were organized by Whatsapp, being told the time and place of the next looting.

2. Police stayed put, and some even participated in looting.

3. The press equated the looters with gasoline price hike protestors. In their narrative, looters were protestors, and vice-versa.

4. Public opinion disapproved of looting, and consequently disapproved of protestors.

5. Profit!