How about OWS condemning the protesters that get arrested? Of all the grievances OWS has listed, the NYPD is not listed anywhere. Why are the protesters taunting the police? What do the police have to do with the 1%? What do the police have to do with the Citizens United ruling? Why can't the protesters stay on the sidewalks? What does the movement gain by these arrests? As an observer looking in from the sidelines, these arrests delegitimize the credibility of the movement. In order for the movement to maintain the highest credibility we need to take the highest road. OWS should condemn any protester arrested for frivolous disobedience. What if the rightwing "plants" protesters in the crowd to embarrass the OWS movement? OWS needs to position itself now against the actions of the mentally adolescent . It should not be a badge of honor to be arrested. It accomplishes nothing.
I worked in NYC for 15 years and I always thought as far as police go, the NYPD was the coolest force in the country. I attended concerts at MSG and smoked dope in front of many of them with out incidence. I never had a problem. I think that is still true. As far as my experience is concerned you have to try real hard to get arrested in NYC. Why are we going out of our way to try and embarrass them when they are part of the 99%? I'm embarrassed for the protesters when I see these videos of protesters IN THE STREET. WTF are they doing in the street? You can hear in the videos the cops telling people to stay on the sidewalks. What if a protester gets run over by a car? Then it's the cops fault for not keeping them on the sidewalk? Why can't we just obey the laws and concentrate on the real issues which have to do with Wall Street and our democracy? We do ourselves a disservice when we try and embarrass union workers who are just doing their job. That's right, the NYPD is a union job. I know every cop isn't perfect just like every protester isn't perfect but what I see on the videos makes me cringe. Protesters in the street, protesters tipping over motorcycles, protesters ignoring cops directives. The sidewalks are ours, the street is NOT ours. The street is for cars. It just seems to me that after protesters worked all night to clean up the park last night, going on a march and having 18 arrested this morning was a dumb idea. It isn't going to recruit undecideds who may be sitting on the fence as to whether they should support the movement. Both the protesters and the NYPD are feeling their way thru this event and I think enough time has passed where the OWS needs to think about how the arrests reflect on the movement.