I am all for protests and redress of grievances when government is seen to be abusive, neglectful, or indifferent. However, damaging a memorial erected for those fallen in the line of duty seems a bit beyond the pale.
One might argue, for example, that the firebombing of Dresden and the atomic weapons attacks on Japan were unnecessary, pointless, or even evil. That does not mean that every person who served in World War 2 is thus evil, and damaging the WW2 Memorial would not be received well by those who protesters are trying to reach.
Thus it is with the Denver memorial to fallen police, apparently damaged by protesters this afternoon. Any coverage of the positive aspects of such a protest are negated by such actions. You can bet the authoritarian apologists will latch onto the "hoodlums" and ignore the reason for the protests. More below the orange police line.
Protesters dumped red paint on a memorial honoring more than 70 fallen police officers Saturday afternoon. They also plastered stickers on the memorial and nearby pillars.
"Some of these people were my friends," Police Cmdr. Matt Murray said, gesturing to the memorial. "This is disrespectful and I don't think it displays the values of this community. We're extremely disappointed."
Denver police said two males were arrested for criminal mischief after the protest ended. Firefighters assisted in quickly cleaning the memorial.
So begins
an article at
The Denver Post.
The memorial recognises officers fallen in the line of duty. It is not a monument to police misconduct or brutality.
In my mind this falls in the same category as the WW2 argument above.
Venting frustration (in many cases entirely justified) by attacking a memorial to fallen officers will accomplish little but turn up the anger against protesters. Expect that noise machine to start painting the protesters as hoodlums and ignore the larger issue of police misconduct.
When you lose your temper, you lose the argument. Presuming this is not some sort of conspiratorial "false flag" attack or "agitators" (for which there is currently no evidence), those who did this have just given away a large part of their legitimacy.
One thing is for sure: damaging a marble monument will accomplish nothing to end police misconduct.