What I have observed in the anti-war demonstrations in Washington, DC is that ANSWER, the communist organizers of all of them, work with radical law firms before the demonstrations and teams of lawyers during them. The law firms harass anyone who objects to various ANSWER tactics like pasting their posters all over neighborhoods or insisting ANSWER follow local legal codes for their march. When ANSWER marches, they have a team of lefty lawyers at the march and call out for marchers to make complaints of police misconduct at the march. I suspect the police are intimidated by these tactics.
For example, at the last inauguration I witnessed protestors assaulting the police with snowballs, plants torn out of hotel pots, full soda cans, and other debris to the point where it became a dangerous situation for passersby. The police pepper-sprayed the most violent portion of the protestors and arrested a few others.
The radical lawyers took the police to court for violating the rights of the protestors, specifically their right to free speech and assemble. It went on for months. My speculation is that, even if it doesn’t cost the individual police any money or hurt their career, they probably don’t want to waste time with these idiots. So harassment works.
Right wing counter-protestors, by contrast, are not so well-organized nor well-funded. They usually represent only themselves and are not backed by a foreign government, as large radical organizations are. They are not inclined to sue the police. They don’t bring lawyers with them to make gratuitous lawsuits. Consequently, the police do not fear them and handle them more harshly than the radicals. They know they can push conservatives around.
