It’s been several months in the United States that the protests against police violence and Black lives matter which was sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers are happening.
Since then the news has been about the looting and violent protests, indeed some protests in Portland, Oregon, and Kenosha, Wisconsin have turned violent because of unidentified law enforcements arresting people from the streets.
But according to the report, officially titled “Demonstrations & Political Violence in America: New Data for Summer 2020” from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, the protests in the United States were overwhelmingly peaceful.
Researchers working with Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative found out that from late May to the end of August over 10,100 or nearly 95% of them were peaceful, and less than 570 or nearly 5% of them were violent.
Despite what the media choose to show, the majority of the demonstration that was happening all over the country have been entirely safe and peaceful to participants.
And according to the report, the urban areas like Portland, Oregon, or even in the city where violence has broken out, those have been isolated incidents among other completely peaceful demonstrations.
The research study also found that peaceful protests have been reported in over 2,400 locations around the country, whereas there have been violent demonstrations in fewer than 220 locations.
Even though most of the protests were peaceful, the report acknowledges a recent poll that says that “42 percent of respondents believe ‘most protesters are trying to incite violence or destroy property.”
The report says that despite the media focus on looting and vandalism, however, there is little evidence to suggest that demonstrators have engaged in widespread violence. In some cases where demonstrators did turn violent and there are reports of agent provocateurs or infiltrators instigating the violence. BLM protests have been peaceful, but they have met violent government interruption more than other demonstrations.
Research from the University of Washington points out the disinformation campaigns that aim to spread lies about Black Lives Matter activists and protesters to drum up opposition to the movement.