What's your estimate then? I mean... I'm here in Portland. I can drive right by downtown (drove straight through Ground Zero at main and 3rd just this morning). I see the hippies. I don't see violence. Show me the violence. Tell me why I need to support tear gassing these kids every night for two months.
No one will. But I see people vote up these posts about "yay lasers!" instead. I'm out of patience here. I can see with my own eyes who the bad guys are, so can you, and yet... "look! lasers!"
Well, "no violence that I have personally seen during the day" doesn't really have any relevance to "is there violence during the night" - and all the police brutality / protester violence / arson etc videos I've seen from Portland have been at night.
I can't speak for Portland, but I have seen the SPD instigate violence on numerous occasions, against peaceful protests. In those instances, including in the time leading up to the violence - nobody was throwing anything at the police lines, nobody was destroying property - until the police started chucking flash and gas grenades and firing less-lethal bullets into crowds. (Which have all, by the way, been outlawed by city council - yet the police department is still using them.)
That is not how every Seattle protest has gone, but that's how many of them have - many during the day (Although a few turned that way at night, as well).
You know what I meant. There's plenty of video evidence of brutality on one side (again: literally tear gas, impact munitions and billy clubs every night for two months!) and a flood of highly spun "well, it's sorta like violence" on the other (laser pointers, fireworks, cutting fences, "they're holding shields"). I can see what I see. You can too. So why the insistence that "we don't know"? We know.
No one will. But I see people vote up these posts about "yay lasers!" instead. I'm out of patience here. I can see with my own eyes who the bad guys are, so can you, and yet... "look! lasers!"