Police kettling functions to punish and deter protest rather than keep order

Evidence

One of the most notable features of the media coverage since Day X has been the persistent equivalence it has made between violence and property damage. Having narrowly avoided two kettles, I hardly see any violence or property damage. The violence I do see is perpetrated by the police, as a line of baton-swinging cops impose a kettle on protestors standing on Whitehall. I only learn about Alfie Meadows later, and the disjunction between the reality of the demo and its media representation becomes even more maddening, to the point where I can hardly bear to watch the news coverage any more. While a young student has a brain operation, the media are fixated on a cosmetic “attack” on the heir to the throne’s car. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1548 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Media coverage persistently equated protest property damage with police violence — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1548; Police can retaliate against mayors by refusing to police city events — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 365; Apparent protest victories over police reflect police withdrawal, not defeat — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 421

Broader Connections

• Media coverage persistently equated protest property damage with police violence #complicates (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1548