Almost every time an antifascist is assaulted by someone on the far right at a protest/counter protest/certain events etc, there are people who immediately go to the cops and ask “why aren’t you arresting them?”
I know the answer is obvious to a lot of people but I think it’s worth paying attention to what law enforcement almost always says.
“You have to file a police report. I can’t do anything if you (or they) don’t talk to me.”
obviously thats not how law enforcement works.
Cops routinely arrest and target antifascists and people in general based on what they personally witnessed, what someone else told them, footage they’ve seen, information they’ve gathered, or often with little to no justification at all.
They don’t need an antifascist to walk up and file a report before deciding that an arrest is warranted when we’re the ones they want to target.
when a fascist assaults someone in front of them and suddenly the response is “yeah well they need to file a report first,”that isn’t some neutral limitation on what police can do.
It’s a choice.
And watching people repeatedly try to force cops to explain that double standard only to get the same rehearsed excuse is an important reminder of exactly who law enforcement chooses to protect and who they choose to criminalize.
It wasn’t long after this when things escalated.
After being triggered by someone fake throwing
"air balls," Serena DeVoogd, aka right side rebel, maced Cozca, an Indigenous elder. The mace led to a brutal attack on her.
As she tried to get away from Serena, one of the men on the far right pushed her into a pillar so Serena could continue her attack.
me and a few other people ran to help get her out of the attack but were in turn bear (coyote??) sprayed repeatedly by Anthony Romero and other men in their group who were trying to prevent Cozca from getting help.
When police arrived, they refused her medical attention and threatened to arrest her. Her face was swollen and she already had a black eye.