Milwaukee Police Chief Blames Chicago-Based Activists For Violence Toward Police

[Purveyor]

By Tribune staff with news services

Milwaukee police Chief Ed Flynn on Monday lauded faith and community leaders for curbing violence Sunday night during unrest after the police shooting of a black man on Saturday.

“I saw in many instances people preaching on street corners, counseling small groups of individuals. A number of individuals spoke at the vigil, which easily could have been an excuse to incite, but rather there were consistent calls for calm, discussion and peaceful change,” Flynn said.

Flynn confirmed, however, a significant level of violence toward police. In addition to the well-documented rock-throwing by Sunday night’s mob, officers have also been met with gunfire since a police-involved shooting sparked outrage.

"It certainly appears there are people who are willing to shoot at (police) without concern of whether they injure or kill them," Flynn said. "… We do have people who are recklessly firing firearms generally, and clearly some of them are firing at police."

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-milwaukee-police-shooting-protests-20160814-story.html

[saidsimplesimon]

1. Let's stop demonizing activists, please.

I respect the religious community and support reasonable law enforcement. This is a bridge too far, imo.

[PeaceNikki]

2. He didn't use the term generically. He named a specific group which was accused of some Ferguson

agitation as well.

http://gawker.com/who-are-the-revolutionary-communists-allegedly-agitat-1623920601

[PeaceNikki]

3. Look them up, they were in Ferguson, too.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/left-wing-radicals-ferguson-missouri-protests

[romanic]

10. So they're basically a Communist version of the Westboro freaks.

They sound like a lovely group.

[PeaceNikki]

12. Yeah, they seem nice, huh?

[PeaceNikki]

4. More on RCP

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Communist_Party_(US)

The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP) is a Maoist political party in the United States originally formed in 1975, which in recent years has mutated into a batshit authoritarian cult of personality centered around the guru status of party chairman Bob Avakian.

[Ellen Forradalom]

14. I remember anarchists dubbing them

The Remote Control Parrots.

Is Bob Avakian still around? I remember graffiti--"Stop the Railroad of Bob Avakian"--40 years ago.

[former9thward]

5. The RCP is one of the sect groups which popped up

after the implosion of Students for a Democratic Society in 1969. They still think it is the 60s and they like to come to hot spots to get publicity so they seem relevant.

[MrScorpio]

6. Actually, the chief could have started by getting his own officers under control

This buck passing on his part is unbecoming of an authority figure.

[PeaceNikki]

7. Flynn is generally a decent man who sticks his foot in his mouth occasionally

I don't think this is one of those times. RCP are well-known agitators. Chief Flynn said that his force had “policed an awful amount of demonstrations these past two years” and that “virtually all of them were without arrests or injuries.” He's absolutely right. The cops handled the protests this weekend as best they could.

And Flynn is not afraid to fire cops who break protocol. See: http://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/judge-upholds-firing-of-officer-in-dontre-hamilton-shooting-b99768754z1-388331781.html

[elfin]

9. Right. Milwaukee has many many race issues, but Flynn and Barrett are not problems

Police actually making slow progress. Extremely difficult with proximity to Chicago gangs, guns, guns, guns!, David Clarke etc.

Racism and inequality issues have seemed intractable for ages. Perhaps due to the tight neighborhoods settled by Germans, Poles, Italians so.many years ago and the loss of low-skilled industrial jobs that lured African Americans only to lose the jobs and see the other ethnicities scramble to avoid them based on their nativist narrow backgrounds.

Community leaders are strong, talented and committed. There is hope, but weasel Walker is doing his best to make things worse by encouraging the remaining middle class to move out by eliminating residency requirements. Mayor Barrett ( a very good guy IMO) had the gall to run against him.

[PeaceNikki]

11. Agreed on all counts. Barrett is a good, kind, decent, caring man.

[HereSince1628]

8. RCP seems to be opportunistic, showing up when protests are already started.

It's a hour and one half drive from Chicago to Milwaukee, so it certainly would be possible for a group from Chicago to show up and be part of the protests and trouble in the Sherman Park neighborhood. Sympathetic persons do sometimes come to WI from the Chicago area and participate in protests.

What's really important isn't that they may have been here, but whether and to what extent RCP incited violence as Flynn implies.

As an ordinary citizen I won't know any sort of answer to that until law enforcement decides what they want to reveal.

If they captured digital information from sources other than social media they may not want, or be able, to reveal just how that was done.

[Marengo]

13. Had contact with RCP'ers back in the 80's, strange folk. Avakian was like a mysterious...

God-like persona virtually no one had met, and apparently only a few central committee members knew his whereabouts. Rumor had it he was living in France at that time. Much of their conversation revolved around their plans for revenge against the bourgeois and its lackeys, loved talking about shooting people. Disingenuous opportunists who planned to form a united front of various left and revolutionary groups to gain power, and purge them as soon as military power had been achieved. Studiously avoiding any discussion of Stalin, they finally decided to openly praise him, basically adopting Mao's analysis. Speaking of Mao, he was the answer to all things. Oh, and the Sendero Luminoso are their heroes.

[Ellen Forradalom]

15. Charming bunch