I’m entirely on the side of real journalism so it was interacting to see some people that thought a press badge meant they didn’t need to also follow police orders.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6233399/supreme-court-montreal-es...
It's an intimidation tactic, and the officers face zero consequences for employing it. "You may beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride" and all that.
"In the video the police had control. There was absolutely zero need to escalate. They were trying to punish and intimidate the crowd instead of trying to disperse or control it. That should cost the commanding officer's job."
The professional way is to identify the instigators/leaders in the crowd and extract them one by one. Also to constantly move the crowd street by street - toward less narrow places.
> You have to leave when told to do so.
And if you don't they might arrest you. Standing there is no cause for smashing faces. They can simply grab the closest persons to the police line, bring them behind the line, arrest them. No need to lash out. This gets the message across. If the crowd starts to escalate, sure, water jets. But even that's usually completely unnecessary. Just pick up the trouble makers one-by-one, usually that means less than a dozen people.
Because if there really is an organized fanatical crowd then the police would likely withdraw, like they did in Seattle "zone".
But, people are required to obey police commands, unlawful or not, and then seek remedy from the courts afterwards.
And, there is usually a narrow self-defense exception. One can lawfully resist if the police are unlawfully trying to kill you.
There are exceptions related to orders to break the law, put oneself or others into danger, and so on.
For example, if you resist arrest, the underlying charge may get dropped for lack of evidence but the resisting arrest charges may remain. Though, the resisting arrest charges (or obstruction charges) may get dropped too depending on the prosecuting agency's policies.
Order someone to step to the side for public safety? Probably alright. Probably. Unless it's obvious that what they really mean is "Step so you can't see what I'm about to do."
Order someone to stop filming? Spot-check your First Amendment training and get back to me. Or give that order again, on camera.