Police Flex Power with Occupiers this Morning

This morning the police directly woke up everyone in the rebel camp @ Westlake Park. This is in contrast to our usual mode of operating where the rangers first come in and gently wake folks up and to let them know that the parks department will be cleaning soon and everyone needs to pick up and move camp around while the park gets cleaned. This morning, police directly woke up occupiers and told them they needed to wake up and get there stuff up right away.

This difference of operating, the police directly flexing rather than attempting to be diplomatic using the rangers, is easily explainable by a need for the police to re-assert their authority after the major victory for the occupation last night, where a couple of people who set up tents were arrested but thanks to their sacrifices and the resolve of the rest of the occupiers, we were able to celebrate and mingle in the People’s Park all through the morning (until 6am when the police came). The need for the police to reassert their authority after it was clearly and loudly denied last night is the lesson I take from this. Thanks to us all sticking together and collectively saying “NO!” to the illegitimate authority of the police, the people were able to maintain their park and celebrate a wonderful victory.

The police then, are only attempting to reassert themselves over the crowd to break the will of the general assembly, which agreed with a super majority last night that the Occupation (of Westlake, not the acquiescence of City Hall) would indefinitely remain at Westlake Park.

What they may or may not realize though, is that it is absolutely too late for them to reestablish that authority. It will only be through massive civil disobedience that will allow us to carve out space for this movement to grow in Seattle in line with the global movement

Yes folks, this means risking arrest in order to stand for principles.

DON’T RUN AWAY FROM ALL THIS, all of your supposed “crimes” are widely recognized as a service in the cause of global freedom & democracy.