Ok, this is not written by me. It was posted by Mr. Jason Pipes, a eyewitness to the events in Raliegh, NC last night. All statements and photos are by him and he holds copyright. I post this with his permission.
Tonight I witnessed first had the riots in Raleigh, North Carolina. It wasn’t pleasant but I wanted to see first hand what was occurring on the street from the perspective of someone who understands some of the strategy and tactics used by both sides. Seeing things first hand without any filters was elucidating.
I was able to move about the city by car and on foot and used direct emergency communication for details. I felt the brunt of flash bangs from both the police and from the rioters, and multiple times encountered clouds of tear gas. For the most part people left me alone and I was able to watch and observe what was taking place. I spent about 4-5 hours doing so.
The majority of people I saw were young, about 10% were gawkers and college kids out for a thrill, about 10% were clearly bad apples with no real political intentions who were just out to cause trouble, about 40% were there for what they clearly felt was a legitimate protest of injustice, and about 40% were antifa types (actual antifa, black blok anarchists, and related affinity groups) working to use everyone else to fight the police, loot, burn, and cause mayhem. Most of the antifa types were white. Outside of a few media, law enforcement, and a small handful of people that work as "mediators" in some situations, I did not see any other groups present, including counter protestors or other agitators as is being frequently reported.
The protest began around 5pm and was initially "peaceful" as the news frequently likes to focus on. It should be noted that peaceful does not mean the crowd wasn't unruly and confrontational; the amount of threatening comments and chants leveled at police, in some cases in their faces, was pretty intense and ongoing. One of the tactic often used by these types of protests is to agitate to make the police respond by arresting someone or using force, at which the protestors immediately react by filming for propaganda as well as to stoke the crowd into a "they are coming for us" mentality. The law enforcement I saw did not respond to the provocations used, and were pretty professional, almost reserved. Within an hour it became very obvious those present had plans to do more than be peaceful and were waiting until nightfall to do so. From about 6pm on things got very intense and increasingly more violent. The crowd frequently broke into multiple groups and moved in different directions, a tactic often used to stretch law enforcement thin and cause confusion regarding intent. Until around 11pm police for the most part were acting defensively and had not been trying to clear each block, hold that ground gained, and disperse the crowd completely.
I was able to see coordinated and planned movements and actions led directly by antifa members. Additionally all of the following occured: the use of drones by the rioters; the use of high powered lasers to disable or harm police and their vehicles (noted repeatedly on police radio); designated individuals with medical and tear gas response supplies; movements coordinated by multiple FRS hand held radios; tactical coordination by individuals out of the fray but clearly calling shots; communist, anarchist and revolutionary flags and banners; and empty pallets placed in the areas of the protest (many people are reporting these being found in cities around the US).
There is absolutely no question antifa is behind these riots here and in other cities across the US. They are coordinated, they have communications and equipment, they are planning, they are using diversionary tactics, and critically they have gained experience from a decade of protests over everything from Wall Street to anti-police, to anti-War and anti-US events. They’ve learned from their experience protesting since 2008 and with the help of a willing mob are using all sorts of new means (and many not so new) to wreak havoc and violence. Lest I be any clearer: antifa is specifically focused on violent revolution, abolishing police, and crushing capitalism. The pain of the death of George Floyd is real, and antifa is using it to further their own political goals.
This isn’t likely to end until the law enforcement response is serious and cracks down to make the streets a no-go zone for rioters. The chilling reality is, as I heard on the police radio all night and saw first hand, the police in Raleigh (and I suspect in many other cities as well) are being ordered to not make arrests unless they absolutely have to and they are also mainly using defensive and reactive formations and crowd techniques. That is not how you control a brazen and dynamic, coordinated group of revolutionary rioters. Maybe when the National Guard is deployed they will switch to a more proactive stance.
