Analysts Say Armed Groups At Protests Raise Specter Of A ‘Street War’

Enlarge this image

Federal officers are surrounded by smoke as they push back demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on Wednesday in Portland, Ore.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Live Updates: Protests For Racial Justice
Police Declare Riots At Portland And Seattle Protests; 1 Killed In Austin

National
Attorney General Barr Defends His Decisions And DOJ Actions Before The House

In recent weeks, street clashes have involved combinations of protesters, police, federal forces, extremists and provocateurs. The disparate armed factions, plus the stressors of the pandemic and a looming election, lead terrorism analysts to predict that worse is still to come.

«I think we are coming into very dangerous waters over the next couple of months,» said Seth Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. «This has the potential for larger numbers and amounts of street violence between groups and networks on opposing sides. This is serious. I haven’t seen this kind of domestic terrorism threat, really, in my lifetime.»

Analysts say far-right and anti-government agitators are either attacking protesters or trying to glom onto their cause to push their own agendas. Other extremists see a chance to trigger a violent revolution; still others, a race war. Meanwhile, guns are increasingly visible on the protesters’ side too. Some armed anti-fascist groups and Black gun clubs have joined the fray as self-proclaimed community defense forces.

In heated exchanges at a hearing this week, House Democrats accused Attorney General William Barr of ignoring the far-right threat. Like President Trump, Barr blames the violence at protests on armed anarchists and other leftist radicals. Barr told lawmakers that peaceful protests over racial inequality have been «hijacked.»

«The rioters have come equipped for fight,» Barr said, referring to protesters in Portland, Ore. «Armed with powerful slingshots, Tasers, sledgehammers, saws, knives, rifles and explosive devices.»

Barr also defended the deployment of federal forces, a move that has been widely criticized as an unnecessary addition to an already combustible mix. Just as negotiations were underway to remove the federal forces from the streets of Portland, a new video surfaced of New York police bundling a protester into an unmarked van — a tactic used by the federal officers.

«This becomes very dangerous in who is being read as an enemy, who is read as engaged in criminal activity, and when the federal government can use its considerable power to shut down public dissent,» said Ashley Howard, an assistant professor of history and African American studies at the University of Iowa.

Howard has written extensively about political violence and civil rights rebellions. She said protests in the 1960s also drew an extreme backlash. But now, with the organizing power of social media and guns in so many hands, this era is different. Howard said it has changed the way she thinks about protesting.

«I, for so long, have taken for granted what protesting in this country meant. That you could go out and come home that night,» she said. «And I think now this is changed. You could get hit by a car. You could get a rubber bullet to the face. You could be shot by someone who’s trying to protect you.»

Howard said that’s what makes the sustained demonstrations remarkable. Protesters have seen the beatings and car rammings. And yet, she said, they keep coming out.

«That makes the stakes so much higher to protest, but I think that also demonstrates how the stakes have already been high,» Howard said. «That people are willing to put their lives on the line to finally get a freer kind of freedom in this country.»