David Meyer is a professor at the University of California, Irvine and an author of the book "The Politics of Protest: Social Movements of America." He compares the insurrection to the anti-lockdown protests, which also faced far less force than Black Lives Matter protests. "Policing is supposed to make distinctions based on tactics and conduct, but not based on belief, and certainly not based on identity," Mayer said. "And this moment has been different because the president of the United States has been ready to make heroes of people who do extraordinarily disruptive things if those people say they like him."

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