Forum Post: The Police Crackdowns Are The Best Thing That Ever Happened To This Movement

Don't get me wrong. I am not on the side of the city governments nor the cops. Hear me out when I say that the police raids are the best thing that ever happened to Occupy Wall Street. If it wasn't for their raids and clashes with protesters, this movement would hardly have received any press coverage. The police actions are the greatest thing that has ever happened to this movement in more ways than one. First, their actions have made news causing a great deal of Middle Class Americans to sympathise with the Occupy Wall Street movement and its objectives: a great deal of Americans who will vote next year. That's why the local and federal governments, especially the Republican controlled Congress, are so worried about this movement and so hostile to it. Second, the cities that are trying to crack down on the protests are only hurting themselves by sending out their police. The economies of these cities are already strained from the recession. It costs these cities a huge amount of money they don't have to continue cracking down on these protests. They know this and are really worried. They are just not telling the public about it.

So here's my advice. The protests need to continue and the tents need to continue being pitched. Keep on pitching those tents and having the cities continue to shell out even more money they don't have to continually arrest people, take down tents, and crack down. If the police crack down in one area, Occupy Wall Street just needs to move to another and continue to pitch tents. If they crack down in that area, Occupy can just go somewhere else and pitch more tents. Believe me, the city governments do not want to continue shelling out their limited money removing tents and arresting people and paying for their food and housing in jails that are already overcrowded. That is the last thing the cities want to continue to do. They are overwhelmed as it is already. They know this and that's why they have cracked down on the protests in various cities all at once. They are hoping the will of the people in those protests will break if they do so and the movement will just fade and die. The movement needs to show the city leaders and their police forces, to their horror, that that will never happen! In fact, the movement needs to start making the police and authorities look like fools. If the police give the order to remove the tents, Occupy Wall Street can remove them and leave right at the last minute before the cops arrive. The cops will arrive and see nothing and the city will know that it just spent a huge amount of money organizing a police effort for nothing. Trust me, sending out the cops is really not what the cities want. Occupy Wall Street needs to continue pitching tents in various areas and informing the press where they are going to be. Let the cities continue trying to crack down on the protests until they are overwhelmed, broke, and desperate.