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Running Over Protesters Is a Tactic Ripped From Terrorist Playbooks
Across the United States, police are treating their vehicles as weapons against protesters
On Sunday, an LAPD officer in an SUV stepped on the gas during a peaceful protest and struck and injured a man at a crossroads; the day before, two police cars plunged into a crowd in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, thrusting protesters aside and onto the ground. And on the day Mayor Bill de Blasio imposed a citywide curfew, the NYPD police scanner registered an unidentified voice saying “run them over,” in reference to a group that was blocking traffic.
As anti-racism demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer continue to sweep the country, motorized incursions against protesters have become common — perpetrated by both law enforcement and civilians. In Minneapolis, where the first protests started a week and a half ago, a semitruck sped through a closed highway toward a gathering of thousands who were able to move out of the way. In West Fargo, North Dakota, a driver hit a protestor and kept going for three blocks as he held onto the windshield. In Denver, a black SUV accelerated against a protestor who was already on the ground. In Tulsa, at least two people were injured after being struck by a pickup pulling a trailer.
The weaponization of vehicles isn’t exactly new. Far-right groups, jihadists linked to the Islamic State, anti-Muslim extremists, and non-ideological “lone wolves” have all used vehicles as weapons for violence. From behind a wheel, they resignify an ordinary, ever-present engine to deliver an assault on normalcy. At once simplistic in its requirements and potent in resonance, such attacks trivialize bodies and dehumanize lives. And now they are being pushed into the mainstream.
Since 2015, vehicle-ramming incidents have seen an uptick around the world. The Bastille Day truck attack in Nice in 2016 was the deadliest so far, leaving 86 victims dead and more than 430 injured, and triggering a wave of copycats. More than 70 episodes were accounted for globally between 2017 and 2018. Whether it’s in London, Berlin, Barcelona, Oslo, Ohio, or North Carolina, perpetrators find their targets at bus stops, university campuses, stores, street…
