LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have taken a hard line against alleged violence at protests, charging nearly 100 protesters since June in cases that could result in long prison sentences. But a fifth of those cases have been dismissed or resulted in acquittals in what some former federal prosecutors and free speech advocates say is a rare rebuke of the U.S. attorney’s office’s mission and credibility.

After tens of thousands of people flooded the streets in June and October during “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration , at least 20 of 97 federal cases filed against Los Angeles protesters since June have failed in court, according to records provided to NBC News by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Eighteen of those cases w

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