Peaceful Protests

The definition of a ‘peaceful protest’ seems simple enough to the average person but apparently, appearances can be deceiving.

So what does our local Government-owned TV network think about peaceful protests?  Fortunately, we found out the answer to that question thanks to TVNZ 1 News at Six hosted by Melissa Stokes and Anna Burns Francis on Sunday the 15th of November.

Melissa Stokes:

Tonight on One News: Thousands march in support of Donald Trump, sparking fears of violent protests.

After relative calm, clashes have broken out in the past hours after a big march of Donald Trump supporters in the American capital. Tens of thousands rallied in Washington D.C. to protest against unproven claims of voter fraud during the election.

A mish-mash of demonstrators carrying flags were joined by far-right groups chanting “Stop the Steal” as they marched towards the capitol building.

Anna Burns Francis:

There’s still a group of around several hundred members of Donald Trump’s supporters, a number of them are from the group the Proud Boys which is a white supremacist right-wing group or faction of Donald Trump’s supporters. They’ve been marching around the Capitol; and White House buildings for a number of hours now and there have been some clashes with members from the other side, as you would call it, as many Democrats, Blacks Lives Matter protesters and the like but no police were involved until the very end of that, though we are now seeing a very high police presence in the blocks around the White House again as those groups continue marching into the evening. Certainly, today went a lot smoother than many were expecting.

And while today’s march may have avoided violent clashes these are not peaceful protests.

Don’t you just hate it when your lyin’ eyes deceive you like that?