Most demonstrations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement last summer have been peaceful, and over 93 percent involved no severe harm to people, or property, according to a study on political violence in the United States.

The study found that state intervention and use of force has increased since the year before, and that non-state actors, including militia groups, are becoming more aggressive as they intervene in demonstrations.

“Individual perpetrators — sometimes linked to hate groups like the KKK — have launched dozens of car-ramming attacks targeting demonstrations around the country,” according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, the organization which collected the data and is renowned for tracking violence and unrest around the world.

ACLED examined 7,750 demonstrations across more than 2,440 from all states beginning from the day after George Floyd was killed by the police in May, till August 22nd.

Nearly one in ten demonstrations associated with the BLM movement was met with intervention by the police or other authorities, with government personnel using force in more than half of these interventions.

“The results of the study present a stark contrast to claims made by the Trump administration, and widely circulated by Fox News and other rightwing media outlets, that the US is being overrun by violent leftwing protesters,” The Guardian reports.

A series of counter-protests to the BLM movement were found to be growing and becoming increasingly violent as compared to the year before, according to ACLED.

-

Some data in response to your views on the ‘reaction from the left’: https://acleddata.com/2020/08/31/us-crisis-monitor-releases-full-data-for-summer-2020/