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Notes -
(@wlxd as well)
It's a little jarring how I see pretty much the exact same comment made by the other side on left-leaning social media. I see commenters on the left furious about how the January 6th protesters were handled with kid gloves, including being allowed to go home instead of being arrested immediately while the BLM protesters were tear gassed and roughed up by the police and kettled and arrested.
I really don't think this is evidence of leniency at all. Firstly, people were arrested on Jan 6th. I've seen a bunch of complaining about how the number arrested was less than the BLM riots, but I'd like to note that police were overwhelmed. "Since the police at the scene were violently attacked and outnumbered, they had a limited number of officers who could make arrests. 'Approximately 140 police officers were assaulted Jan. 6 at the Capitol, including about 80 U.S. Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department,' according to the Department of Justice."
It's necessary to remember that Jan 6th was a one time event, too, whereas BLM rioted for a much longer period and it's reasonable that officers would know better what to expect for the latter which would make them more capable of handling the riots and making arrests on the spot, so the two cannot be directly compared in that way. Still, hundreds of arrests were made in the aftermath of Jan 6th. "More than 855 defendants tied to the attack have been arrested in 'nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia.'"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/07/25/fact-check-false-claim-no-arrests-were-made-capitol-jan-6/10077303002/
If this is the basis for the argument that the left is being politically discriminated against, I have to say I think it's very weak. There are plenty of factors that can influence police response that have nothing to do with sentiment.
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