I've come round to the theory it's an escalation and propaganda excuse. When ure plowing into and beating down a line of truckers protesting for example, imagine the bad pr if the truckers throw back your tear gas canister and it beans one of the sacrificial 5 foot women in the head. The damage and threats they receive are the excuse for more police beatings.
During the Ottawa trucker protest, the official Ottawa municipal police account unironically claimed that the militarized police WEREN'T shooting tear gas out of guns at the truckers but instead claimed that it was the unarmed truckers lobbing tear gas canisters at the poor police officers.
I've come round to the theory it's an escalation and propaganda excuse. When ure plowing into and beating down a line of truckers protesting for example, imagine the bad pr if the truckers throw back your tear gas canister and it beans one of the sacrificial 5 foot women in the head. The damage and threats they receive are the excuse for more police beatings.
During the Ottawa trucker protest, the official Ottawa municipal police account unironically claimed that the militarized police WEREN'T shooting tear gas out of guns at the truckers but instead claimed that it was the unarmed truckers lobbing tear gas canisters at the poor police officers.