Pallets of Bricks At Protests

About

Pallets of Bricks at Protests is an unsubstantiated rumors that either protester, counter protesters or police have been leaving pallents of bricks near protests to incite violence. Protesters mostly believe that police do this to delegitimize protesters. However, very little evidence has supported these theories.

Origin

The origin of the rumor is unknown. One of the earliest available examples occurred on May 30th, 2020 in an Instagram post by @reubengotsoul. The post received more than 102,000 views and 11,000 likes in less than one week (shown below).

Spread

That day, reporter Kevin R. Hogan tweeted about the use of bricks. He wrote, "'Yo, we got bricks. We got bricks!' --#Rioters in Manhattan chanced upon a cache in the street equipped with bricks and a shovel at 10:01 p.m. on Second Ave between St. Marks Pl. and Seventh St." The tweet received more than 3.7 million views, 3,900 retweets and 3,200 likes in less than one week (shown below).

"Yo, we got bricks. We got bricks!"--#Rioters in Manhattan chanced upon a cache in the street equipped with bricks and a shovel at 10:01 p.m. on Second Ave between St. Marks Pl. and Seventh St. pic.twitter.com/dYB7vHdYqL

— Kevin R Hogan (@KRHogan_NTD) May 31, 2020

The following day, the Kansas City police department tweeted,^[1] "We have learned of & discovered stashes of bricks and rocks in & around the Plaza and Westport to be used during a riot. If you see anything like this, you can text 911 and let us know so we can remove them. This keeps everyone safe and allows your voice to continue to be heard." The post received more than 7,700 likes and 4,400 retweets in less than one week (shown below, left).

On June 1st, Twitter^[2] user @DESERTWXLF tweeted, "#BREAKING : Pallets of bricks are seen being planted in frisco , tx right now by 121/plano pkwy there is a #blacklivesmatter #protest today #Anonymous." They later updated, "IT HAS BEEN REPORTED THESE PALLETS HAVE BEEN PICKED UP!!" The initial post received more than 13,000 retweets and 11,000 likes in less than one week (shown below, right).

That day, Twitter user @loch_northern shared a video with the caption "From someone in Boston." The video presumably shows police officers unloading bricks from the back of a truck. The post received more than 3.4 million views, 61,000 likes and 34,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below).

From someone in Boston pic.twitter.com/2rbFQExziR

— polar bear 🇮🇳🏴🚩 (@loch_northern) June 2, 2020

On June 3rd, New York Police Commissioner Shea shared a video of police officers cleaning up creates of bricks and rocks. He wrote, "This is what our cops are up against: Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout NYC." Within two days, the video received more than 3.4 million views, 21,000 likes and 16,000 retweets (shown below).

This is what our cops are up against: Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout NYC. pic.twitter.com/HT317TjoqH

— Commissioner Shea (@NYPDShea) June 3, 2020

Journalist Matt Binder refuted the video, writing, "i want people to understand what the NYPD police commissioner is spreading here. i have found the location where these 'bricks and rocks' were 'strategically placed' there are no protests or events or anything even happening in this part of brooklyn." The tweet received more than 4,600 likes and 3,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

Around this time, an image featuring an anthropomorphic brick warning protesters against using the pallets went viral. It reads, "Well Howdy! I'm just a mysterious pile o' bricks. I've been seen at many of the recent BLM protests sitting around areas of no construction or carefully removed from things like streets or sidewalks and placed in near, easy-to-grab piles! Do not reach for me! I am intentionally placed here to creat violence! This is used to delegitimize the movement and allows more force to be used" (shown below).

That day, BuzzFeed ^[3] published "People Say Pallets Of Bricks Are Showing Up Near Protests All Over The US. The Truth Is More Complicated." They wrote, "BuzzFeed News has documented claims made about bricks in Boston, Dallas, Kansas City, San Francisco, and elsewhere. In several cases, bricks were placed long before protests began in the US, or they are clearly linked to ongoing construction. As of now, there's no evidence to support claims of coordinated brick placements at protests. However, now that the claims have spread across social media -- and been amplified by the White House -- it’s possible that people could be inspired to start collecting and placing bricks."

On June 4th, the fact-checking website Snopes ^[4] rated the rumors "Mostly False." They wrote:

What's True
Protesters in many major U.S. cities used bricks to cause destruction -- or, in some cases, to injure police -- while walking on streets during the 2020 demonstrations.

What's False
However, no evidence suggests there was a coordinated effort on behalf of government entities or billionaires to pre-place bricks on protest routes to incite violence during the demonstrations. Also, evidence showed that in many cases "suspicious" bricks depicted on social media were on streets for ongoing construction projects, not "planted" for protesters.

What's Undetermined
It is possible that protesters themselves, perhaps antifa members, could have strategically placed bricks in easily accessible spots to facilitate causing property damage, though no evidence proved that was indeed occurring.

Search Interest

External References