Forum Post: A crazy idea on where the movement could go next...

what I would like to see happen (as strange as this is going to sound) would be for this to turn from an Occupy Wall Street movement into an Occupy Detention Center movement. pretty wacky, right? this is my reasoning: you're all out there exercising your right to free speech, and doing it in a way that is largely peaceful. I say if they're going to kick people out forcibly, protesters should refuse to go and LET themselves be arrested and taken into custody. if the police try to move protesters without arresting them, they would simply return. continue to do so until the police realize you're not going away and have to arrest you.

I think this would quickly cause overcrowding of these detention centers, and require them to run through many more resources than they would likely be able to handle. even if they were able to, the cost to taxpayers (having to pay to hold and feed these people) would go way up. municipalities would be forced to decide whether it was worth it to keep the protesters detained, and so would tax-paying detractors of the movement. additionally, the amount of media coverage this would get would be off the charts. the discussion would permeate the national discourse on an even deeper level.

I would envision public sentiment shifting against the crackdown on the protests. of course, there would be those who blamed the protesters for the overburdened detention centers and extra cost, but I think as long as the videos and pictures we see day in and day out of people getting arrested continue to show that they were in fact being peaceful, most of the public would realize that arresting these people is a choice, not a necessity, and that our local leaders are the ones making those choices.

people would be released, charges would be dropped, and the movement will have taken another huge step forward.