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[kaijyuu]

You want to know what I actually advocate? What I actually want?

I want another New Deal. I want redistribution of wealth. I want ridiculously huge corporations to be split up until nothing is ever "too big to fail" like we had with the banks earlier. I want everyone who makes more than ~$200,000 a year to get a swift kick in the pants and those below them to benefit (ie, the real job producers, and the real workers).

Where Occupy comes into play is spreading the message and inhibiting the status quo from staying such.

[SalmonGod]

Posted 13 minutes ago.

#NYPD officers w/ helmets have lined up along the West side of Zuccotti Park

[Descan]

Now is that in respect and solidarity, or is that a blockade line?

[sluissa]

Posted 13 minutes ago.

#NYPD officers w/ helmets have lined up along the West side of Zuccotti Park

We will not sacrifice Steve's Pizza nor Charly's Grilled Chicken and other things, we've made too many compromises already, too many permits. They invade our parks, and we stand there. They take up entire blocks, and we stand there. Not again! The line must be drawn here! This far! No Further! And weee will make them pay for their street food!

Seriously though, I hope it's respect and not just preparation for a crackdown.

[SalmonGod]

I've seen nothing else about it so far... just a few mentions that a large group of riot police showed up and have been standing in a line there.

[scriver]

No helmets on should mean not confrontational in Police Body Language - it both shows the cops aren't armouring up and showing faces makes them more human and less easy to project anger upon by the protesters, meaning less escalating behaviour from the protesters side. The Swedish police recently went through a redesign of their riot gear to make themselves look as unarmoured as possible, based on the theory that the animosity between cops and protesters/rioters causes a circle of escalation of the conflict - protesters are angry, police is scared and becomes angry, protesters gets scared and angrier, and so on until cobble stones and gas grenades start flying and the armed forces starts stomping people. The idea is that because the riot police looks so much like faceless soldiers it's very easy to dehumanise them, and by making themselves look as unprotected as possible (without actually being unprotected), and thus not as threatening, the protesters will be less likely to attack them (in short, it's easier to throw stones at someone in armour and wielding a giant shield than someone without). Psychological warpolicefare ho!

Of course, none of this applies when it's the police who's doing the escalation, as from what I understand has been the case with (most of? All?) the Occupy protests (I don't even know if any of them degenerated into actual riots and clashes with the police as opposed to just being brutalised by them). Just a bit of random stuff I felt the need to share.

[SalmonGod]

You mean they're finally realizing that looking like combine probably doesn't leave the best impression?...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[scriver]

Hehe, what a striking resemblance... Did anything else happen during the night, though, or was it relatively calm?

Also, I looked around a little bit for the new uniform but found this awesome picture of 30's Polish riot gear instead:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I especially like how the small guy in the middle has such a cartoonishly oversized helmet he can't even see he's facing the wrong direction, and how the third guy from the left looks like a truely evil, corrupted person and, by the way his groin-plate is jutting out, looks to be sporting a raging boner.

[hemmingjay]

Of course, none of this applies when it's the police who's doing the escalation, as from what I understand has been the case with (most of? All?) the Occupy protests (I don't even know if any of them degenerated into actual riots and clashes with the police as opposed to just being brutalised by them). Just a bit of random stuff I felt the need to share.

Unfortunately, the triggers of violence have been on both sides. One incident in NYC and several in Oakland that I know of where overzealous protestors escalated into violence. While we may not agree with police tactics in general, try to understand what it must feel like when you are outnumbered 50 to 1 by screaming, excited people who are acting aggressively and suddenly you or one of your co-workers is hit with a bottle. The building tension is broken and the expected chaos and attack seems to be taking place, instead of the isolated incident it actually was.

There are dozens of mentalities at play here but the two most important in reference to violence are mob mentality and prison guard mentality. They are and will always be at odds with each other. Unfortunately each bolsters the confidence of individuals to an extreme point and violence can spill over.

Police will try to maintain the status quo and keep protesters from disrupting business and the lives of people trying to go about their lives. Protesters will try to gain as much exposure for their protests as possible. The two are at odds unfortunately. Be grateful this is not 80% of the rest of the world because the military would have already fired upon Zucotti Park.

[SalmonGod]

I haven't heard of protesters in the U.S. doing anything really violent, though.  They've definitely gone overboard in trying to provoke police at times, and I'm not excusing that.  However, I don't think a few thrown bottles count as threatening, or even rocks unless they're big and the police aren't wearing armor.  Over this entire year, I haven't heard of a single molotov being thrown or anything comparable in the U.S., which actually shows some impressive discipline by the movement as a whole.  You know that there has been plenty of pressure to engage in that sort of thing, especially from agent provocateurs.

And at every event I've looked into over the last several months, police have outnumbered protesters at least by at least a 2-1 ratio... more often 5-1.

As for the one year anniversary, I think it ended mostly peacefully.  There were isolated incidents of aggression by police and many arrests, but no major transgressions by either side, as far as I know.

[scriver]

Of course, none of this applies when it's the police who's doing the escalation, as from what I understand has been the case with (most of? All?) the Occupy protests (I don't even know if any of them degenerated into actual riots and clashes with the police as opposed to just being brutalised by them). Just a bit of random stuff I felt the need to share.

Unfortunately, the triggers of violence have been on both sides. One incident in NYC and several in Oakland that I know of where overzealous protestors escalated into violence. While we may not agree with police tactics in general, try to understand what it must feel like when you are outnumbered 50 to 1 by screaming, excited people who are acting aggressively and suddenly you or one of your co-workers is hit with a bottle. The building tension is broken and the expected chaos and attack seems to be taking place, instead of the isolated incident it actually was.

There are dozens of mentalities at play here but the two most important in reference to violence are mob mentality and prison guard mentality. They are and will always be at odds with each other. Unfortunately each bolsters the confidence of individuals to an extreme point and violence can spill over.

Police will try to maintain the status quo and keep protesters from disrupting business and the lives of people trying to go about their lives. Protesters will try to gain as much exposure for their protests as possible. The two are at odds unfortunately. Be grateful this is not 80% of the rest of the world because the military would have already fired upon Zucotti Park.

I very much have an understanding of how police can also feel threatened and suchwise, that's why I called it "a circle of escalation" above

[Gantolandon]

I don't think the situation is even remotely similar. One side consists of trained proffessionals in full riot gear and armament designed to deal with crowds. On the other side, we have disorganized protesters who, at most, can throw some rocks which will promtly bounce off the shields.

[Techhead]

One thing to take in mind is the possibility of Agents Provocateur. Some were found during Occupy protests last year, and not all of them were even associated with the police.

[Darvi]

Which, of course, implies that some were. The hell, police?

[Solifuge]

One thing to take in mind is the possibility of Agents Provocateur. Some were found during Occupy protests last year, and not all of them were even associated with the police.

Which, of course, implies that some were. The hell, police?

You'd just as well blame anyone with a vested interest in the protesters not disrupting the area, or people opposed to the group as well... though whether a unified opposition to the Occupy movement exists, I can't say.

I'm a little bummed that I couldn't make it out in time for the protests, but I'm still hoping to do my Anthropology project on the movement next month.