Occupy Eviction

The members of Occupy Wall Street who have been camping in Zuccotti Park for the last two months were evicted from the camp by the city this morning. The mayor claimed:

“No right is absolute and with every right comes responsibilities,” the mayor’s statement reads. “The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out – but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park or otherwise take it over to the exclusion of others – nor does it permit anyone in our society to live outside the law. There is no ambiguity in the law here – the First Amendment protects speech – it does not protect the use of tents and sleeping bags to take over a public space.”

But, Bloomberg added, the park was becoming “a health and fire safety hazard to the protestors and to the surrounding community. … [And] I could not wait for someone in the park to get killed or to injure another first responder before acting.”

Really? You can say that with a straight face?

I really do not understand the thinking of the leaders in New York, Portland, Oakland, etc. Here are people protesting social inequality and corruption of power in government and corporations, so let’s raise a fuss about tents? Let’s send in riot geared police armies and make mass arrests? Tear gas, rubber bullets?

Those are the things you pull out AFTER a protest has turned violent. If you bring out the riot police, when there is no riot, eventually you’re going to cause what you are trying to prevent. You don’t prevent getting stung by bees by poking the hive. Nor do you prevent riots by agitating a group of people who are protesting because they feel they are oppressed.

So far, the Occupy movements have remained peaceful and have tried to fight back legally. Within hours of the clearing of Zuccotti park, they had already gotten an injunction from the courts against the mayor from clearing them out. The ones who stayed in the park were arrested but resisted peacefully.

Hopefully it will continue that way. Hopefully things can remain peaceful.

You know, if you sent in cleaning crews, with maybe a single unriot geared cop and ASKED the protesters to move for a bit so those guys could clean and then they’d be able to come back, you would get a better response. Here in Houston, the Occupiers have moved a few times to allow other groups to use the public spaces. Heavily armed police detachments were not required.

Start treating the protesters like people and they’ll respond like people. Treat them like a violent mob, and eventually you’ll get a violent mob. But maybe those in power want a violent reaction so they can justify their treatment. That would be bad for everyone and the movement. But the more the police keep poking the bear, the more likely it becomes that something tragic will happen.

Fun Fact: Occupy Wall Street started on September 17th, which is Constitution Day. Bet none of you knew that. It’s a highly appropriate day.