Police need to ruthlessly crack down this tactic of protestors using cars to box in vehicles or cut off access to public streets. I don’t know when it became socially acceptable to use a car as a weapon of siege warfare, but it’s total bullshit. Boxing in someone’s car is tantamount to assault, false imprisonment, and kidnapping. You’re restricting their freedom of movement, you’re forcing them to either damage their car or flee on foot to escape, and you’re placing them in a situation of grave physical risk. I don’t care what side you’re on or how righteous you think your cause may be. Boxing in cars and maliciously cutting off access to public roads isn’t cute, it’s not harmless, and it’s definitely not protected free speech. It’s mob thuggery at its worst, it justifies an immediate and extreme degree of self-defense, and it needs to be punished like the violent crime it is.

Since someone will inevitably try to “gotcha” me here: Yes, I would absolutely say the same if conservative protestors were doing this. I’ve never once witnessed them do so, but, if you can show me an example, I will happily condemn it in equal measure. Believe it or not, many of us just want to raise our families in a safe and non-violent society, irrespective of partisanship or political ideology.