Police Murders and the Criminalization of Protest in America

‘On Friday, New York Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton announced the formation of a 350-member paramilitary police unit specializing in “disorder control and counter-terrorism.” Bratton made clear the new unit would be used to crack down on political opposition.

In his announcement, Bratton explicitly equated peaceful protests, protected under the First Amendment of the US constitution, with acts of terrorism and mass murder. The commissioner said the new unit will be “designed for dealing with events like our recent protests, or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris,” referring to the 2008 Mumbai, India attacks that killed 164 people and the recent shooting of 11 people at the offices of the French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo .

The police commissioner made clear that members of the unit would be heavily armed. “Long rifles and machine guns… are unfortunately sometimes necessary,” he said.’

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