Complex sentence: We weren't going to be walking meekly in the night and letting them shove us around--it's like standing your ground for the first time and in a really strong way, and that's what caught the police by surprise.
Split into simpler sentences: We weren't going to be walking meekly in the night and letting them shove us around. It's like standing your ground for the first time and in a really strong way, and that's what caught the police by surprise.