I think this tactic is not only used in the direction of clamping down on protesters and limit free speech. These violence tactics seem to also be used to move people WHICHEVER way the powers that be want the masses to move on any given day. This is no different than having sheep dogs nip a bit at the ankle of sheep to get them to move one way or the other.
The issues here are:
- Due to a lack of critical thinking the masses let themselves be moved to and fro.
- People don't have a deep foundation on which to stand firm, and thus they are easy to move around at the whim of whoever is in power.
- This continues will absolutely lead to the masses being steered to the precipice.