Riot Shields And A Side Of Pepper Spray
Over the last few days, the Occupy Wall Street movement has crystallized the fact that the rule of law in the US has been utterly usurped by the rule of authority. Historically speaking, Americans have always had a huge amount of respect for the law, and with good reason — we thought we were protected by checks and balances, due process, and all the other legal mechanisms that made us the land of the free. Unfortunately, individuals who enjoy power have used the guise of law to give themselves unchecked and unaccountable authority. Now that people are starting to protest against this unchecked authority, we can see exactly how many of our freedoms have been eroded.
Under the rule of authority, Mayor Bloomberg decided that local health and safety codes trump the right of citizens to assemble peaceably, and had Zuccotti Park cleared of protestors early this morning. The New York Times would have you believe that the eviction was peaceful, and carried out calmly:
By 3 a.m., dozens of officers in helmets, watched over by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, closed in on those who remained. The police pulled them out one by one and handcuffed them. Most were led out without incident.
Certainly an interesting statement to make, considering that the press weren’t allowed to observe the clearing of the park:
The NYPD also forced a CBS News helicopter to vacate the airspace over Zuccotti Park. If the park was cleared without incident, why were the police so concerned about the press watching? Well, here are some more clues:
Protestors being hospitalized? What kind of incident-free clearing is that?
…oh. That kind of peaceful clearing.
Ever heard of an LRAD? According to Wikipedia, the Long Range Acoustic Device “is a distance hailing device and non-lethal crowd control weapon…. The device was developed specifically in response to the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in October 2000….” It has been used against insurgents in Iraq, protestors in the countries of Georgia and Thailand, pirates off of the coast of Somalia… and now it has been used against American citizens. That’s right, a tool designed to fight terrorists is being deployed against peaceful protestors.
Our government applauds the Arab Spring, yet as Egyptian activist Gigi Ibrahim tweets,
NYPD is reminding me of Egyptian Army raiding of Tahrir sq on Aug 1st to end #July8 sit in #OWS..same pigs different face
Regardless of your opinion of Occupy Wall Street, regardless of whether or not you’re glad the protestors are (temporarily) gone from Zuccotti Park, we should all be outraged by the NYPD’s shameless thuggery — and also terrified that the thuggery is officially condoned by the only people who have the authority to stop it.