Like many major cities, Austin, Texas, wasn’t spared from the rioting in 2020. The riots there didn’t get as much attention as Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle or Washington, D.C., but they were bad enough. Businesses were vandalized and looted, and police officers were attacked with rocks, frozen water bottles, jars of paint, etc.

In response to this violence, Austin’s Soros-backed district attorney Thursday announced the indictments of … 19 police officers for violating the rights of the demonstrators.

As you might imagine, Austin police officials are furious. Dennis Farris, president of the Austin Police Retired Officers Association, blasted the indictments, saying:

“The socialist DA in Travis County indicted Austin police officers for doing their jobs during the riots in 2020… These indictments are strictly political in nature… All [the DA] has done today is ruined the lives and careers of police officers for his radical agenda.”

This is the left’s war on police, part of the left’s war on normalcy.

Austin, a Democrat-dominated city, defunded its police department in the summer of 2020, and, predictably, set a new homicide record the following year. The city is down 200 officers now, and I seriously doubt Thursday’s news will help with recruitment.

This is what happens when the left gets power — the criminals walk free and cops get prosecuted.

I don’t know all the intricacies of Texas law, but Governor Abbott and the state legislature need to take action. Gov. Abbott should immediately pardon the officers if they are convicted.