It’s been two years since angry occupiers started shouting, “We are the 99 percent!” Tuesday marks the second anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement and activists are celebrating by renewing calls for an end to capitalism and demonizing law enforcement.
In a 10-minute video released by OWS activists today, the narrator follows an Occupy protest on the movement’s first year anniversary through the streets of New York City as it heads to Wall Street. Throughout the video, the narrator’s commentary suggests the police are the bad guys. Among other charges, he claims the police are “targeting specific protesters in their arrests” and cuffing people to “dent the momentum of the protests.” Of a police captain he says, “He is an expert in crowd suppression.”
Judging from the footage, these officers could perhaps tone down the roughness of their arrests, but can we talk about these hypocritical protesters for a second? At one point a march participant is seen shouting, “This is a peaceful protest!,” while sporting a Che Guevara t-shirt -- you know, the communist/mass murderer from Cuba. Other “peaceful protests” held by the Occupy Movement in the past include an incident in Oakland, California, when demonstrators set fires, burned American flags, defaced private property and destroyed ATMs. Then, in November 2011, Occupiers marched near a Washington, DC convention center to protest an annual summit held by the conservative Americans for Prosperity Foundation. At that demonstration, a 78-year-old woman was knocked down the stairs while attempting to get around the protesters. And they wonder why the cops may be a bit on edge.
After witnessing the 99 percenters’ history of disorderly, disruptive and violent demonstrations, I can’t help but wonder...who exactly are the “greedy” ones?