Pro-immigration protests turn violent in Arizona
David Freddoso
Washington Examiner
4/25/2010
Whenever I’m asked about media treatment of the Tea Parties, I ask myself a simple question: What do you suppose the media would say if tea partiers were biting off people’s fingers?
A new question for today: What would they be saying if even a small group of Tea Partiers physically attacked the police at a rally?
Witnesses say a group protesting against SB1070 (Arizona’s harsh new immigration law) began to fight with a man who was for the controversial immigration bill.
Police tried escorting that man away from the scene, fearing for his safety, when they too came under attack by people throwing items, including water bottles.
There was one arrest.
I’ve seen lots of protests, especially since moving to D.C. I don’t believe that pro-immigration protestors are particularly violent, rancorous or nasty. Unfortunately — and I think any serious person has to admit this — Tea Partiers are not given the same benefit of the doubt by the news media, even though they seem to produce fewer violent incidents than your typical anti-war-Bush-IMF-WorldBank-capitalism-fill-in-the-blank protestors.
