I went to about a dozen protests in Lower Manhattan, half of them after dark, and saw largely peaceful protestors as well as professional cops. I saw protestors behaving aggressively, provocatively, maliciously, but ultimately legally, and I saw cops that didn't react and allowed the protestors to voice their opinions... loudly. Protestors also successfully occupied the northeast corner of the block around City Hall for over a month.

I think this represents the vast majority of the protester and police interactions during that time period, as much as each extreme refuses to believe it.