Police Violence

Police in the United States are three times more likely to use force against left-wing protesters than right-wing protesters, according to new data from a non-profit that monitors political violence around the world.

In the past 10 months [prior to January 2021], US law enforcement agencies have used teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and beatings at a much higher percentage at Black Lives Matter demonstrations than at pro-Trump or other right-wing protests.

Law enforcement officers were also more likely to use force against left-wing demonstrators, whether the protests remained peaceful or not.
The statistics, based on law enforcement responses to more than 13,000 protests across the United States since April 2020, show a clear disparity in how agencies have responded to the historic wave of Black Lives Matter protests against police violence, compared with demonstrations organized by Trump supporters. (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/us-police-use-of-force-protests-black-lives-matter-far-right)

According to Amnesty International  Police Violence -  (https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/police-brutality/)

"The police in the USA commit human rights violations at a shockingly frequent rate, particularly against racial and ethnic minorities, and especially Black people...

* Not one US state complies with international law and standards on the use of lethal force by police.
* In the USA, the majority of deaths at the hands of police are the result of an officer using a firearm.
* In many cases, officers have shot people multiple times, indicating use of force that was neither necessary nor proportionate. Michael Brown, for instance, who was unarmed, was shot six times.


The National Academy of Sciences (2019) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6708348/) wrote Risk of Being Killed by Police Use of Force in the United States by Age, Race-Ethnicity, and Sex

We find that African American men and women, American Indian/Alaska Native men and women, and Latino men face higher lifetime risk of being killed by police than do their white peers. We find that Latina women and Asian/Pacific Islander men and women face lower risk of being killed by police than do their white peers. Risk is highest for black men, who (at current levels of risk) face about a 1 in 1,000 chance of being killed by police over the life course. The average lifetime odds of being killed by police are about 1 in 2,000 for men and about 1 in 33,000 for women. Risk peaks between the ages of 20 y and 35 y for all groups. ***For young men of color, police use of force is among the leading causes of death.***

* Street medics work in this hostile environment, providing first aid and medical support to those injured by police violence.