They thing is, even if you’re peaceful if they ask you to leave and you’re not leaving, they’re gonna break up your protest violently. And if you leave every time they tell you leave, they’ll learn that they can just ban you entirely from protesting because what are you gonna do about it?

So you end up staying and the police will break up your protest. They will say that you were throwing bottles or stones, you can deny it but all conservative and some liberal media will report anyway that that’s how it escalated. You will be at risk of being beaten, inhaling tear gas, being shot at, arrested, you might get sentenced to a fine, community service, or even jail time. And no one will come to your defense because you asked for it by escalating the protest.

That’s why protests are escalating, because the police repeatedly attacks peaceful protesters for no good reason. For the police, you are the enemy, because they report to the government, and they act to protect the government, not you as a citizen.

Source of all this: I have been going to Palestine protest for the better part of my adulthood and have witnessed this way too many times during all kinds of administrations, especially since the genocide started.