Fox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly on Monday disputed media reports that most of the Ferguson, Missouri, protesters were peaceful last week, and said those who didn't walk away from violence were part of the problem.
In his "Talking Points" commentary in the opening segment of
Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," the host acknowledged that Ferguson protesters had brought worldwide attention to their cause but added that those involved in looting and arson sent a message that anarchy and destruction are acceptable tools to be used in protests.
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"Once you see crimes being committed in any situation, you must walk away or you become part of the violent mob," O'Reilly said of peaceful protesters who didn't immediately leave the scene Monday when violence erupted after a grand jury didn't indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of young black man Michael Brown, 18.
Protesters who didn't leave the scene once violence started are guilty of "aiding and abetting by providing them cover and support," O'Reilly said.
The violent images seen in the media also served to alienate good people who are sympathetic to the cause, he said.
O'Reilly went on to cite statistics that police shootings against blacks have decreased in recent decades, and he took Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson to task for his Sunday New York Times op-ed in which he said there is a "plague of white cops who kill unarmed black youth."
Police killings of blacks are actually down 70 percent in last 50 years, O'Reilly said.
The grand jury may have made a mistake, but the "lynch-mob mentality" of Dyson and the Rev. Al Sharpton "is a far more obvious mistake," he said.