"What are the police supposed to do?"
Don't escalate an already volatile situation. Be a professional and keep your temper in check. Don't pepper spray or shoot rubber bullets or beat someone with a baton because they told you to go eff yourself or called you a pig.
Don't tug a man's mask down and pepper spray him directly in the face. Don't shoot paint bullets at someone standing on their own property clearly posing no harm to you or the other 20-some officers tromping down the street. Don't pepper spray a member of the press in the face. Don't shoot rubber bullets at members of the press simply doing their jobs. Don't arrest members of the press who have every right to be there. Don't pepper spray people in when they are actively walking away from you and are clearly not a threat. Don't attempt to run protesters over with a giant SUV.
There are any number of things the police are supposed to do. Abusing their power is not one of those things.
These are the people we are supposed to entrust to enforce the rules of our society. When they are flagrantly ignoring those rules themselves, why should we respect them?
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