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If we want to preserve the right of peaceful protest without fear of police brutality, then we must take the responsibility that goes with it. Black Bloc tactics are well-known, and like creators of action movies, each event requires an escalation of sensationalism to capture and hold public interest. Every organizer of a peaceful march on Saturday had the responsibility to understand these tactics, to educate their members, so that they didn't become unwitting accomplices.

Many protesters never saw the violence, but many did. My question to you is this. When you saw a balaclava or bandana-clad crowd, did you follow them, photograph them, feel secretly exhilarated ("can't WAIT to tweet THIS!!!!") or did you disengage, stop chanting, sit down and refuse to let them blend in to your peaceful march?

It is easy to blame the police for over-reacting (and they did), it is far more uncomfortable to examine the role that we each played individually in police officers getting to such a heightened state of fear - and make no mistake, they were scared witless - that they resorted to over-the-top preemptive and retributive attacks.