Editing Riot control (section)

=== Black Lives Matter protests ===
[[File:Geogia National Guard, Atlanta Police and Black Lives Matter detail, from- Hold the Line - 49964334728 (cropped).jpg|thumb]]
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2025}}
[[George Floyd]] was a Black man who was murdered by a Minneapolis Police Officer in May of 2020 during an arrest. Subsequently, many Americans protested for ''[[Black Lives Matter]].'' The summer of 2020 oversaw a large number of mass protests for Black Lives Matter to address systemic bias in police departments. Due to the high volume of protests, police departments and sparsely the National Guard were sent to end the long protests. Police departments often wore riot gear and used both projectiles and irritants to disperse the protesters.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bell |first=Eugenia |date=2020 |title=Alex Golshani: The George Floyd Protests in New York |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/tyr.2020.0102 |journal=The Yale Review |volume=108 |issue=2 |pages=45–55 |doi=10.1353/tyr.2020.0102 |issn=1467-9736|url-access=subscription }}</ref> These incidents were widely documented through the use of social media. Documentation and support for the protests further facilitated the movement. One study, recorded by the National Institute of Health, studied the usage of social media as well as its contributions to the movement's legitimacy.<ref>Chang, Ho-Chun Herbert; Richardson, Allissa; Ferrara, Emilio (2022-12-07). "#JusticeforGeorgeFloyd: How Instagram facilitated the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests". ''PLOS ONE''. '''17''' (12): e0277864. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1371/journal.pone.0277864. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 1932-6203. [[PMC (identifier)|PMC]] 9728865. [[PMID (identifier)|PMID]] 36476759.</ref> Counter-protesters as well as right wing militia committed violence against the protesters in addition to police departments. Instead of irritants or other standardized tools for riot control, these counter-protesters often used more violent techniques such as ramming into protesters with their cars. Data supports that Black Lives Matter protests in particular were faced with much more state intervention. Suppression techniques that were used by both the state and right wing counter-protesters resulted in injury and death. Both during and after the protests, there were many pieces of legislation that either were passed or were written to curb these protests. Law makers and the public questioned riot control and its violations of the First Amendment including the right to assembly and the right to free speech. 45 U.S. states had considered this legislation. Concerns were raised by both political parties on the distinction between riots and protests.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.3390/journalmedia4010015 | doi-access=free | title="Anti-Riot" or "Anti-Protest" Legislation? Black Lives Matter, News Framing, and the Protest Paradigm | date=2023 | last1=Culver | first1=Kathleen Bartzen | last2=McLeod | first2=Douglas M. | journal=Journalism and Media | volume=4 | pages=216–230 }}</ref>