USA: Unequal policing and harsh repression

BLM protests were overwhelmingly peaceful. Although incidents of violence focused mostly on monuments rather than people, this did not stop President Trump unleashing a bombastic and unsubstantiated narrative portraying BLM as a criminally violent and extremist movement. This pervasive narrative enabled a heavy-handed and often militarised police response to the protests. Overall, data indicated that BLM protests were more heavily policed than any other demonstrations, and that the security forces disproportionately used force while intervening in them.