Swap in any other group for Republicans and this would not be allowed to stand.
San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia insisted that it was more important for police to hold their "skirmish line" formations than to stop individual attacks. Four arrests were made.
"We are not an 'occupying force' and cannot reflect the chaotic tactics of the protesters," Garcia told reporters. Unless a victim's life was in peril or the violence was "spiraling out of control," he said, officers held back to avoid inciting more violence and having the crowd turn on officers. He also said the 250 police weren't enough to control the roughly 400 protesters.
Crowd control does not require a 1-1 ratio of police to protesters. If it did, major rallies would require the US Army to deploy.
Maintaining a skirmish line is a status quo excuse used to justify inaction. The priority of the police is to protect civilians not to prevent attacks on them. Adopting that attitude puts law enforcement in a defensive posture and effectively surrenders the scene to the attackers. Such commands most often come from the top, not from law enforcement.
Liccardo praised the police restraint. "I can say if there was a single excessive baton blow on anyone in that crowd," Liccardo said Friday, "that would have made national news."
National news was certainly made. Not for police violence, but the "restraint" which allowed an anti-Republican riot to take place.
When your key priority is not inciting violence by preventing violence, you have made a choice to allow violence to take place. And it's usually because you sympathize with the attackers.