THE OWS MOVEMENT, THE AUTHORITIES AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

by Sheila Musaji

“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”   ― Frederick Douglass

In the first few weeks, not only did the major media not pay serious attention, but some law enforcement officials used excessive force to discourage the protestors.  Amy Goodman called some of their tactics brutal.

  The police are also part of the 99%.  In NYC, the Mayor sicced the police on protesters; in LA, the Mayor handed out rain ponchos.  On 10/24 police in Albany NY refused to arrest protestors.

Retired Philadelphia police chief Ray Lewis was arrested in full uniform at Occupy Wall Street demo after branding fellow officers ‘obnoxious, arrogant and ignorant’

And, it seems that the Occupy movement is aware of that distinction.  See a video here about Occupy Atlanta protestors who are camped out at the home of a policeman who is facing foreclosure.  Zaid Jilani has a report about this here

Two issues have come up that are causing a great deal of difficulty for protest encampments across the country. 

One of these issues is the number of homeless people (some of whom are mentally ill or criminal) who have attached themselves to the encampments. 

The second issue is that of groups like the “black bloc” who are anarchists and have not held to the non-violence of this movement. They have been responsible for violent incidents in Oakland and in NYC.  On 11/8 in Portland OR, an improvised incendiary device (molotov coctail) was set off outside a downtown office building and they’re investigating a possible link to the Occupy Portland camp.  There have also been incidents of drug dealing.

There have been a number of incidents across the country that have given a “black eye” to the occupy movement, and which the organizers in various cities will have to find ways to address.  For example,  in NYC, someone said to be a protester threw a violent fit in a McDonald’s after employees refused to give him free food.  Daniel P. Mallito reports on this issue that

This past week, one of the occupy Wall Street protesters threw a violent fit in a McDonalds restaurant when he was denied free food. Fisika Bezabeh, a 27-year-old man, ripped a credit card reader from the counter and threw it at the workers who were simply trying to prepare food and work their shifts at 2:30am. The downtown McDonalds, which has become one of the favorite bathroom spots for protesters, reported that police are still investigating the incident. As for the claim that the protest is safe for the individuals involved in the movement, there are at least three separate incidents that refute that claim. Again this past week, the New York Post captured a violent conflict between two of the protesters on video. A homeless man can be seen yelling a profanity-laden string of insults at “occupiers,” and eventually begins to kick the tents of different protesters. Not backing down, some of the Zuccotti Park residents fight back, and violence erupts. In a much more serious and shocking affair, Tonye Iketubosin, a 26-year-old man from Crown Heights, has been linked to at least two incidents of sexual assault in the tent city. One of the cases even involves a minor! These are not the only reported sexual incidents inside the occupy camp, and the problem has gotten so bad that the leaders of the protest have erected “womens-only” tents to help prevent any further sexual assaults. I’m not even going to mention the extreme violence that has erupted at the “Occupy” protest in Oakland. Safe and violence-free? Doesn’t sound like it.

It is obvious from the entire tone of his article that he doesn’t have much respect for the Occupy Movement, but that doesn’t change the fact, that these very real issues need to be addressed.  Ignoring the problem is not an option, and neither is vigilantism.  Some creative solutions will need to be found.

The consensus at Zucotti park in NYC was to form a security detail to enforce a code of ethics mapped out during their general assembly meeting Oct. 31.

As of 11/12 there have been a number of deaths at Occupy encampments, leading to pressure on local authorities to shut down the camps.  In Oakland there have been a number of incidents of vandalism, and questions have been raised about Who’s Behind the Mayhem at the Occupy Oakland Protests?

The wave of arrests is being called a “strategic attack”.

ARRESTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
— 80 protestorswere arrested in NYC, including passersby and members of the press. Six protestors were arrested in San Francisco CA on 9/24
— 700 people were arrested in NYC during a march because they blocked the Brooklyn Bridge.  This mass arrest has led to a Federal class action lawsuit being filed ON 10/2
— In Santa Barbara, CA 8 protestors were arrested, and in Los Angeles, CA 10 protestors were arrested on 10/4
—28 people were arrested during a march in NYC, mostly for disorderly conduct.  Watch the video, and in Seattle, WA 25 protestors were arrested on 10/5
— 11 protestors were arrested IN St. Louis MO, in San Francisco, CA the protestors camp was broken up by the police, and in Boston, MA 24 protestors were arrested on 10/6
— In Sacramento, CA 19 protestors were arrested on 10/7
— In Des Moines IA 20 to 40 protestors arrested on 10/9
— In Boston MA police charged Veterans for Peace and took down an American flag to break up the Occupy Boston protest and over 100 protestors were arrested, in Austin TX 4 protestors were arrested on 10/10
—In Seattle WA  10 protestors were arrested on 10/14
— In Chicago IL 175 protestors arrested, in NYC 70 protestors arrested, in Denver CO 24 protestors arrested, in Raleigh NC 19 protestors arrested, in Phoenix AZ 40 protestors were arrested, in Tucson AZ 53 protestors arrested on 10/15
In Washington DC Cornel West, R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn and 17 others were arrested on the steps of the Supreme Court, in Sacramento CA Cindy Sheehan and 18 others arrested, another 25 protestors were arrested in Denver CO, 2 protestors were arrested in Long Beach CA on 10/16
— 8 protestors were arrested in Seattle WA on 10/17
— Naomi Wolf was arrested at OWS on 10/19
— 4 more protestors were arrested in Sacramento CA on 10/20
— 8 protestors were arrested in San Jose CA on 10/21
— 5 protestors were arrested in Concord NH, 5 protestors were arrested in Minneapolis MN, 20 protestors were arrested in Cincinnati OH on 10/20
— Cornel West and 30 other protestors were arrested in New York, 8 protestors were arrested in San Jose CA, 6 protestors were arrested in Tampa FL, Cornell West was arrested again in Harlem NY along with 30 other protestors, 23 protestors were arrested in Cincinnati OH on 10/21
— 130 protestors were arrested in Chicago IL, 19 protestors were arrested in Orlando FL, 4 protestors were arrested in Santa Ana CA, 15 protestors were arrested in Philadelphia PA, 11 protestors were arrested in Cincinnati OH, 2 protestors were arrested in Charlotte SC, 2 protestors were arrested in Seattle WA on 10/22
— 95 protestors were arrested in Tucson AZ, 15 protestors were arrested in Philadelphia PA, dozens of protestors were arrested in Oakland CA, 15 protestors were arrested in Philadelphia PA, 23 protestors were arrested in Dallas TX, 7 protestors were arrested in San Jose CA on 10/23-24
— Over 100 protestors were arrested in Oakland CA, 50 protestors were arrested in Atlanta GA, 31 protestors were arrested in Albuquerque NM, 4 protestors were arrested in Sacramento CA on 10/25
— 10/26 update - Rubber Bullets, Flash Grenades, And Smoke Bombs To Evict Occupy Oakland.  The encampment was raided and the tents were torn down.  Video of the actual attack here Video of a policeman purposely shooting at protestors coming to the aid of a wounded protestor here.  Video of the aftermath here. In Atlanta, GA Mayor Kasim Reed revoked his executive order allowing protesters to camp out in Woodruff Park and police tried to clear them out.  In Baltimore, city leaders issued a statement that overnight camping is now illegal.  Protestors were also kicked out of aLawrence KS park, and an Orlando FL park.  Little Rock Ark. has given protestors one day to get out. According to Business Week, total arrests across the country as of 10/26 stand at 2,511
— 20 protestors were arrested in Tucson AZ bringing total to 351 on 10/26
— 29 protestors were arrested in Nashville TN, dozens were arrested and protestors were removed from park in San Diego CA, 3 were arrested at Tampa FL, 8 were arrested in Raleigh SC, 18 were arrested in Tucson AZ on 10/27
— 32 protestors were arrested in Rochester NY, 53 protestors were arrested in San Diego CA on 10/28
— 2000 protestors marched in Denver CO, there was a confrontation and police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.  At least 7 protestors were arrested (the number arrested in Denver was 20) on 10/29
— 30 protestors were arrested in Portland OR, 38 were arrested in Austin TX on 10/30
— 8 were arrested in Coachella Valley CA, 13 were arrested in Tucson AZ, 9 were arrested in Richmond VA on 10/31
— 18 were arrested in Wisconsin Assembly, including magazine editor, for Using Cameras; Guns Still Allowed
— 9 protestors were arrested in Philadelphia PA, 3 were arrested (including a photographer) in Milwaukee WI, 5 were arrested in Seattle WA, 2 were arrested in Detroit MI, 2 were arrested in Toledo OH, dozens were arrested in Oakland CA, 16 were arrested in Rochester NY, 10 were arrested in Tulsa OK on 11/2 -

 
— 16 were arrested in Rochester NY, 24 were arrested in Asheville NC, 16 were arrested outside Goldman Sachs in NYC including Chris Hedges on 11/3
— 4 arrested in Asheville NC, 6 arrested in Honolulu HI, 19 arrested in Atlanta GA, 25 arrested in Worcester MA, 11 arrested in Orlando FL, 20 arrested in NYC, 4 arrested in Boston MA, 11 arrested in Riverside CA, 8 arrested in Dallas TX on 11/5
— 5 arrested in Atlanta GA, 23 arrested in Fresno CA, 2 arrested in Colorado Springs CO, 24 arrested in Tucson AZ on 11/6
— 47 senior citizens arrested in Chicago IL on 11/7
— 8 arrested in Dallas TX, 7 arrested in Houston TX, 2 arrested in Sacramento CA on 11/8
— 39 students were arrested at U.C. Berkeley on 11/9
— dozens arrested and encampment cleared in St Louis MO, veterans were arrested while holding a vigil for fallen soldiers in Ashevile NC, 8 arrested in Springfield MO, 6 were arrested in 5th nite of arrests in Fresno CA bringing weekly total arrested to 54 on 11/11
— 17 arrested in Denver CO, 19 arrested in Salt Lake City UT, 24 arrested in Albany NY on 11/12
— On the November 17th National Day of Action, there were hundreds of arrests across the country.  Among those arrested in NYC was retired Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis.  250 arrested in NYC alone 11/17

Reporters detained, arrested across the country in “Occupy” protests

An interesting Huffington Post article about all these arrests notes that

Whatever else it accomplishes, Occupy Wall Street is revealing distortions in our current understanding of the First Amendment. In recent decisions, the Supreme Court has protected Wall Street’s constitutional right to pour millions into political campaigns. But as presently construed, the First Amendment isn’t an obstacle when it comes to silencing the Occupiers.

...  Marshall was right in 1984. People must be allowed to lay down their bodies, not only their wallets, to advocate deepest beliefs. Perhaps the Court, applying more recent decisions that have protected flag burning as speech, will provide the Occupiers with the First Amendment protections that it lavishes on Wall Street’s political interventions. But until that happens, it’s up to ordinary Americans to protect the First Amendment, and insist that our politicians pay heed even if the courts do not.

For centuries, citizens have marched on our streets and assembled in our parks to speak their minds. As the current demonstrators have established, these face-to-face encounters have a special power to command attention and provoke public debate. By enduring significant sacrifice for their commitments, they call upon the rest of us to reflect more deeply on the future of our country. As Thurgood Marshall saw, it was this spirit of self-sacrifice that made the sit-ins of the civil rights era such significant acts of political expression. It is up to Americans once again to insist that this spirit deserves support, not disparagement.. The increasing number of arrests is especially disturbing. Unless they are strictly limited to clear cases of criminality, they have a chilling effect on citizens who might otherwise join the protest.

The American Law Daily reports that there are now about 200 National Lawyers Guild members volunteering as legal observers on the scene at Occupy Wall Street. A national nonprofit composed of lawyers, legal workers, and law students, the guild is encouraging its members to monitor events at the Zuccotti Park encampment and to trail protesters when they march to locations elsewhere in the city.

Over 1,500 retired soldiers that have organized OccupyMARINES, and intend to use their experience to aid and protect the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

There is also an Occupy ARMY, Occupy AIR FORCE, and other military groups being formed.  And, there is an Occupy POLICE group, and Veterans for Peace is now actively involved.

These military and law enforcement groups are multiplying every day.

Stephen D. Foster reports that “What began as the gathering of just a few US Marines has now become a major organized movement to get Marines and military personnell of all branches to Occupy America nationwide. You can thank Marine Sgt. Shamar Thomas for that. His actions last week have inspired service men and women across the country to take a stand for the American people and join the Occupy protests.  Their website OccupyMarines.org, is calling for “Non-Active ‘Occupy’ Military Supporters Only” and they are organizing a dress code which will help identify their branch affiliation. So we should be seeing Marines, Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel dressed to impress at Occupy events across the country. Their goal will be to talk sense into police officers and recruit them into supporting the cause.”

National Nurses United has condemned Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel for Arrest of Nurses, Medical Aid Volunteers at Occupy Chicago

Naomi Wolf wrote about her arrest in an article that includes a video.

DIRTY TRICKS STRATEGIES

The latest strategy to get rid of the protestors is to CANCEL PERMITS, CAUSE DISRUPTION, AND REMOVE NECESSARY FACILITIES.  Now tht the weather is getting cold, the City of New York has siezed all generators and sources of heat and power in Zucotti Park.  This was done the day before a storm came in.  Already creative solutions are being found -  an environmental action group Time’s Up! - is trying to green the Occupy Wall Street movement. Working together with the OWS Sustainable Working Group, Time’s Up is hoping to raise $ 8,000 to shift from the platoon of gas generators previously running appliances - phones, computers, food centers - to a dozen or more energy generating pedal bikes.  Video and story here

In some cases, protestors are facing increased pressure by local law enforcement to move on.  In Athens GA protestors were moved to another location.  In Denver CO, police dismantled the tent city.  In San Diego CA police have ordered protestors to remove their tents. 

This notice from Occupy St. Louis is a case in point

Last night, around 3am a certain STLPD Sergeant informed us that he was going to make sure we removed structures from the center of the plaza by tomorrow night’s curfew, 10pm, 10/23/2011. With the help of the Parks dept if he had to.

So far, STLPD has been cooperative with us in our call for public protest, and peaceable assembly under the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Which ...we’ve thus far exercised within Kiener Plaza.

It seems there is some sort of discrepancy as to where exactly in Kiener Plaza we’re allowed to occupy. For the last 3 weeks, with the exception of 10 peaceful arrests for the municipal charge of curfew violation, we’ve been occupying Kiener Plaza in defiance of the curfew ordinance.

The STLPD Sergeant said this morning, that we are to move our food tent, media tent, and surrounding structures from the center of the plaza, or risk arrest and eviction for keeping those structures in place. Regardless of the fact no one actually sleeps in those tents. The structures have been erected to protect our food, our documents, our cameras, our computers, etc from the elements. All these structures are important to maintaining the operation and documentation of our movement, which also happens to fall under jurisdiction of 1st Amendment rights concerning freedom of press.

While we understand it is up to the STLPD to maintain order in our city, we ask that they please reconsider such measures. They are facing the same financial and economic hardships we all face. Please try and recognize the commonality we share.

Do not quell the voice of reason within us, the voice of the public which you’re sworn to protect.  We ARE the 99%. We’re not going anywhere. We won’t just go away. This is just beginning. Expect Us.

Richmond VA completely dismantled the Occupy encampment on 10/30

Kelly Bowlin reports that when the San Diego protestors were evicted from the park and 53 arrested Several eyewitnesses were troubled by the fact that ten members of the media who were present and displaying credentials were the first to be arrested and their cameras and video equipment confiscated  ATTEMPTING TO DISCOURAGE THE MEDIA FROM COVERING WHAT IS HAPPENING is a particularly underhanded tactic.

And, as Harry Siegel reports there is a very disturbing new tactic ENCOURAGING THE HOMELESS AND CRIMINAL TO GO TO OWS CAMPS

The “model” civilization that’s sprung up at Zuccotti is itself increasingly divided between the stakeholders in the nascent movement who feel invested in the emerging economic, social and cultural causes of “the 99%,” and hangers-on, including a fast-growing contingent of lawbreakers and lowlifes, many of whom seem to have come to Zuccotti in the last week with the cynical encouragement of the NYPD.

The dedicated participants’ stronghold is on the park’s east side, facing Broadway. The stragglers tend to cluster on the park’s west side, facing Cedar. The rift between them is growing. And two of OWS’s core values, generosity and inclusion, are being put to a crucial test.

...  The number of non-participants taking advantage of the resources that the activists have provided — free food, clothing, tarps and sleeping bags, hand-rolled smokes and even books, not to mention a sense of protection from the police, who have increasingly left the park to protect itself - has exploded over the past week, and is threatening to define the occupation itself and overshadow its political and social ambitions. Despite those resources, “spanging” (spare-changing, or panhandling) at Zuccotti has become commonplace, as have fights, near-fights and open-air drug sales.

...  But while officers may be in a no-win situation, at the mercy of orders carried on shifting political winds and locked into conflict with a so-far almost entirely non-violent protest movement eager to frame the force as a symbol of the oppressive system they’re fighting, the NYPD seems to have crossed a line in recent days, as the park has taken on a darker tone with unsteady and unstable types suddenly seeming to emerge from the woodwork. Two different drunks I spoke with last week told me they’d been encouraged to “take it to Zuccotti” by officers who’d found them drinking in other parks, and members of the community affairs working group related several similar stories they’d heard while talking with intoxicated or aggressive new arrivals.

The NYPD’s press office declined to comment on the record about any such policy, but it seems like a logical tactic from a Bloomberg administration that has done its best to make things difficult for the occupation — a way of using its openness against it.

See a video here about the possibility of POLICE INFILTRATION AND AGENTS PROVOCATEURS.  The Business Insider reports that It Turns Out The Oakland Police Were Embedded In Occupy Oakland’s Camp Before Their Raid.  If this is an accurate description of what is happening, it creates yet another obstacle to be solved by the protestors. 

One of the “protestors” in Oakland identified as an undercover policeman has now condemned police brutality and said that he suports the occupy movement.

Melissa Bell reports on yet another dirty trick - PURPOSEFULLY SETTING UP JOURNALISTS FOR ARREST.

Journalist Jonathan Meador, a reporter for the weekly newspaper Nashville Scene, was interviewing protesters on Saturday night at the Occupy Nashville event when police moved in and began arresting the crowd.

In the video, police appear to approach the chanting crowd, while protesters yell at them “We love you!” Meador can be heard repeating, “I’m a member of the media.” The visuals are obscured, but a second voice can be heard saying, “When you get him up there charge him with resisting arrest.” The same voice can be heard telling Meador that he is putting Meador’s camera in his pocket.

...  “The Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons has spoken to Chris Ferrell, CEO of the Nashville Scene’s parent company,” Dalya J. Qualls, a spokeswoman for the department said in an e-mailed statement. “We plan to review all of the materials documenting the arrest or Mr. Meador and depending on the review will respond appropriately. It is not our intent to interfere with a journalist doing his or her job.”

On Monday morning, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Nashville protesters, claiming a curfew put in place violates the right to free speech. Monday afternoon, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order requiring police to stop arresting protesters, the Tennessean reports.

Glenn Greenwald reports on the most recent dirty trick strategy PRE-EMPTIVE ARRESTS

Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.

...  Several of those who were arrested are being represented by Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild. Nestor said that last night’s raid involved a meeting of a group calling itself the “RNC Welcoming Committee”, and that this morning’s raids appeared to target members of “Food Not Bombs,” which he described as an anti-war, anti-authoritarian protest group. There was not a single act of violence or illegality that has taken place, Nestor said. Instead, the raids were purely anticipatory in nature, and clearly designed to frighten people contemplating taking part in any unauthorized protests.

Nestor indicated that only 2 or 3 of the 50 individuals who were handcuffed this morning at the 2 houses were actually arrested and charged with a crime, and the crime they were charged with is “conspiracy to commit riot.” Nestor, who has practiced law in Minnesota for many years, said that he had never before heard of that statute being used for anything, and that its parameters are so self-evidently vague, designed to allow pre-emeptive arrests of those who are peacefully protesting, that it is almost certainly unconstitutional, though because it had never been invoked (until now), its constitutionality had not been tested.

There is clearly an intent on the part of law enforcement authorities here to engage in extreme and highly intimidating raids against those who are planning to protest the Convention. The DNC in Denver was the site of several quite ugly incidents where law enforcement acted on behalf of Democratic Party officials and the corporate elite that funded the Convention to keep the media and protesters from doing anything remotely off-script. But the massive and plainly excessive preemptive police raids in Minnesota are of a different order altogether. Targeting people with automatic-weapons-carrying SWAT teams and mass raids in their homes, who are suspected of nothing more than planning dissident political protests at a political convention and who have engaged in no illegal activity whatsoever, is about as redolent of the worst tactics of a police state as can be imagined.

Read his entire article with updates and videos.  Every American should be concerned about such tactics.

The 11/17 National Day of Action was met by hundreds of arrests across the country.  Allison Kilkenny reports on the issue of whether or not local Mayors and the DHS worked together in a coordinated effort.  She notes a “a conference call with the leaders of 18 US cities right before the raids”.  Rick Ellis, and Jeremy Bloom have also reported on this issue of DHS and other coordination.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) and the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests today with the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the National Park Service (NPS) requesting that the agencies release information that they possess related to the involvement of federal agencies in the planning of a coordinated law enforcement crackdown that has taken places in multiple cities against the Occupy Movement in recent days and weeks.  The FOIA to the various federal law enforcement agencies states: “This request specifically encompasses disclosure of any documents or information pertaining to federal coordination of, or advice or consultation regarding, the police response to the Occupy movement, protests or encampments.”

There is a sudden increase in the number of incidents USING EXCESSIVE FORCE. 

In the early days of the movement there were such incidents, e.g.  One New York policeman used pepper spray on protestors not just once, but twice.  Some police appear to have beaten protestors without provocation.  The case of Scott Olsen, the Marine Veteran who was seriously injured in the Oakland protest is being investigated.  The tactics used in that incident are said to be tactics that aren’t even allowed to be used in war zones.  Rashid Patch who spoke with Mayor Quan, got conflicting information.  UC Berkeley Police Beat Students in Sproul Plaza on 11/9.

U.S. Marine veterans began organizing to defend the protestors.  This began on the Day of Global Change 10/15 when some police used excessive force against protestors, and a former Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, NY went toe to toe with the NYPD.  He is caught on video admonishing the police saying “This is not a war zone- these are unarmed people, it doesn’t make you tough to hurt these people!” Thomas went on later to state: “I was involved in a riot in Rutbah Iraq in 2004, and we did not treat the Iraqi citizens like they are treating the unarmed civilians in our own country”

Now, as the occupy protests reach their two month anniversary it seems that the brutality and violence are becoming more prevalent.  The use of pepper spray against students peacefully sitting in demonstration by a policeman at UC Davis on 11/18 was caught on tape, as was an earlier incident in NYC, and in Portland.  American veteran Kayvan Sabehgi was participating in an Occupy Oakland demonstration earlier this month — and left with a lacerated spleen, sources say, after cops beat him with a nightstick and this was also caught on video.  Police brutally beat students at U.C. Berkeley.  A retired New York Supreme Court judge, Karen Smith, has claimed that she was manhandled by a policeman after watching him beat a woman at the Zuccotti Park raids.

An interesting article on possibilities for why this phenomena is Militarizing the Police: How the Drug War and 9/11 Led to Battle-Dressed Cops Cracking Down on Peaceful Protests.  The author says that “If the infrastructure of a police state is created, it’s only a matter of time before those aggressive powers are used.”

And, a retired Seattle police chief, Norm Stamper has spoken out in an article, and said that “militarization of the police is a mistake”. 

SEE ALSO:  TAM ARTICLE SERIES DOCUMENTING THE OWS MOVEMENT
— The “Occupy Wall Street” American Autumn Movement summary of the movement since 9/17 with extensive article collection
— OWS demands are clear with updated information on demands, statements, etc. from the movement.
— The OWS Movement and Law Enforcement including updated information about arrests, law enforcement responses, etc.
— Occupy Together - the Spiritual Dimension includes information about participation, or lack thereof, of clergy, interfaith leaders and religious institutions, and an article collection.
— Our Elected Representatives Need to Respond to Clear OWS Demands including updated information about the positions (pro and con) taken by various elected representatives and politicians.  It’s Time to Fight Back and Take the Occupy Movement to the Ballot Box as a response to these politicians. 

And, check out the main page of TAM at http://www.theamericanmuslim.org for regularly updated information on how to locatate local groups, and how you can help.