Quote:
Originally Posted by Riot
Some are. There are people that want to use violence like Black Bloc techniques. They are constantly voted down and told no.
Anarchists tend to show up dressed in black, hooded, masked, and willing to cause trouble (like the guy throwing the barriers around today, that was arrested - and should have been, IMO)
Then there's the bunch of half-crazies that shows up for any protest, as an excuse to try and incite violence. Then theres infiltrative agent provacateurs (some off duty cops have been identified)
But the massive majority of this protest is calm and peaceful. It's outliers that are not - both on the side of the cops and of the protesters. You don't hear about the peaceful. I'll bet most people are not even aware how big the movement is, or that it's international, that it's coordinated, and well-planned. Our media certainly does not help. Lawsuit filed against Oakland for police brutality, and today for another jurisdiction (I forget which one).
You can't do that any more - there is too much video, even if the NYPD does erase all video and pictures from the cell phones of people they arrested in the last 24 hours. There is too much extraneous citizen video.
The protest reiterates, over and over, city after city, thousands of people involved, that it will be peaceful, and those that choose to get arrested for civil disobedience (refusing to move and vacate, for example) should remain completely passive, not resist, etc. Protesters have stopped violence and vandalism. Most cops have been great, some have been awful, hurting people that were not breaking any law nor declining to follow police instructions.
And no, I do NOT agree with closing the NYSE, with delaying the opening bell, with occupying the lobby of Bank of America, etc. Protesters should not do that.
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This protest has gone on pretty peacefully in NY for over 2 months. Sure there have been a few bumps in the road, but if you really think where these people were camping out(illegally)/marching all over the place, it's been relatively calm. Today was different because of the threats that they made. But I also think patience is running thin. How much overtime is NY city/state and the taxpayers supposed to pay for? What is the movement's end game? Obviously they have some legit issues, but like I mentioned before, the whole movement has become this 10,000 headed monster with everyone complaining about something else. Let's face it, the damage has already been done. There is no backtracking. Why don't they camp out in front of the White House, maybe that will get something done. Let the President see it outside of his door everyday. Maybe that will get him to do something about jobs. Because by the looks of it, all they are stating to do is spin their wheels in New York city.
For the record, even if they prevented every single person from going in to the NYSE this morning, they would have opened buisness as usual. Despite what people think, the people on the floor are dying a slow death. Between over regulation and automation it's just a matter of time before that place is a museum. Then we'll see how all the NY state government programs run without all that taxed revenue coming in. But that's for another thread at another time.