provocation

On June 9, Bass called the very presence of ICE agents in the city a provocation: “If immigration raids had not happened here, we would not have the disorder that went on.”

Was this a bid for regional relevance, a provocation timed with regional shifts, or a last-ditch effort to break a long-standing siege?

Sheinbaum added: “We call on the Mexican community to act in a peaceful manner and not to fall into provocations.”

“Burning patrol cars seems more like an act of provocation than one of resistance,” Sheinbaum said Monday.

But President Ramaphosa wasn't biting and the provocations were largely left to blow in the breeze.