More than 100 protesters were arrested — yet few injuries reported — when NYPD officers in riot gear descended on Columbia University late Tuesday, using tactical strategies to clear the occupied Hamilton Hall and lawn encampment at the request of the college, as anti-war demonstrations at U.S. campuses reached an inflection point. Dramatic video showed heavily geared officers using a…
This is… Not evidence of coordination, but of network effects. The same reason that hockey fans descending into a riot after losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals is not an indication that they organized a riot.
Network effects build from coordination. Not always, but when protesters organize across states and countries, it’s coordinated.