by Isabella Wisinger , Marketing Freshman at Texas State University
The Occupy Wall Street movement is no longer a local, state or even a national movement. It is international, with hundreds of cities holding occupations all over the world. However, this growing force has been met with much resistance from local police forces, especially in the U.S. The kind of brutality that has been displayed by police in the past week has been an abuse of power. Police are unnecessarily breaking up groups of peaceful protesters and using near-lethal methods against unarmed citizens when they should be working in the interest of the citizens.
There have been numerous cases since the inception of Occupy Wall Street involving officers arresting nonviolent civilians under the guise of things like trespassing, disorderly conduct and violating a city ordinance when the only crime being committed is standing on the wrong piece of land while working and fighting for a just cause. Police should give more lenience and stop resorting to methods that put a division between them and the people.
Police have been getting entirely too violent without just cause. Take the story of Scott Olsen, former Marine and two-time Iraq war veteran. While participating in Occupy Oakland, he had his skull fractured after being hit by a tear gas canister thrown by police. Then, when fellow occupiers tried to step in to offer their help, police threw in a flashbang grenade to break up the crowd. If you watch the videos of what Olsen was doing prior to being hit, he was simply standing with a fellow veteran, showing no violence toward officers. The fact that police would go after a man who has shown such commitment to our country and then proceed to break up the group trying to help him is truly sickening.
In Austin on Saturday night, 38 were arrested for refusing to comply with the two-day-old city ordinance that food tables must be put away between 10 p.m. and 6 p.m. This occurred the weekend after a group of about 200 Occupy Austin activists showed their support for Scott Olsen by getting candles and holding a silent march from Austin City Hall to the Texas Capitol building. The protesters held a rally for about half an hour to show solidarity with Occupy Oakland and to protest police brutality. A moment of silence was held before the group began chanting, “We are Scott Olsen!” and marched through Cesar Chavez and Congress Avenue back to City Hall.
Joshua Harvey, organizer of the Occupy Texas State movement, was active in the silent march in Austin. He noted while he saw little resistance from the police, their march seemed to have caused City Hall to take action.
“It was interesting, right after that happened, City Hall implemented all these new rules restricting the protesters being there, pretty much making it so that they have to find somewhere else to go,” Harvey said. “I’m thinking that that was in retaliation because no one got arrested that night. And then, the weekend after that, suddenly 38 people were arrested and all these new rules had been implemented.”
It is clear that activists in the Occupy movements are not asking for violence, nor want to provoke it. They are willing to work with the laws put in place, as long as these laws are just in themselves, and aren’t being abused. These recent cases of police brutality, all occurring within the past week, show our policemen fighting against the people they are sworn to protect. The fact that it has come to this — police officers trying to break up a crowd offering medical attention is a sign that things need to change. People deserve to know when they are falling asleep at night that their police force is on their side.
Texas State: Occupied 