Forum Post: Violence in the camps..
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 7, 2011, 10:55 a.m. EST by OQPi
(162)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
With any large group of people, there will be some who are violent, belligerent, or obscene. Since the police are ignoring the cries of victims in many cities, what are some ideas to self police, and eliminate sexual assault, violence, drug use, and vandalism?
I know that OccupyBoston has voluntarily declared itself a clean and sober space, and I would support doing something like that to deal with drug use and drunk/disorderly conduct issues. Deal with vandalism, violence, and sexual assault by forcibly unmasking and restraining perpetrators and then dropping them off at the precinct. Some unofficial introduction of the perps to the sidewalk would be a good idea in cases of sexual assault or repeat offenders. As far as prevention goes, provide free martial arts and self-defense training to anyone who wants it, especially women, and that should cut down on some of the violence and a lot of the sexual assault.
So your idea to deal with violent, belligerent drunks is to provide martial arts training, which takes years of repeated exposure and practice to be able to use effectively, to individuals in the hopes that after a few hours of practice they will be ready to unnecessarily engage in a fight that they will likely be injured in? Furthermore, your approach to witnessing vandals damaging public property, most of which are armed in some way, is to initiate physical confrontation by pulling off their masks?
Your failed logic is going to get a lot of people hurt if they put it into practice. Witnessing rape/violence/vandalism is beyond the scope of a regular protestor's responsibilities as an activist and falls into the public domain of lawkeeping. How about just go tell a fucking cop and quit kidding yourself
Here's the deal, if they're drunk and belligerent then just have two or three of the security guys (who are large, sober, and most likely have experience doing this type of thing) grab 'em and leave them at the feet of the nearest cop to deal with. As for martial arts training and passing out of pepper spray, mace, etc. that's not intended to supplant our security and the police but rather to provide a first line of defense to the victim-to-be of any criminal activity (especially rape). Rape is enough of a pain in the ass to prosecute afterwards that if you can provide self-defense training beforehand you'll save yourself a LOT of trouble.
As for vandals, ten to one they're not armed and two or three trained guys can do a takedown. If it happens during a march then they're gonna get pigpiled by about fifty people unless they pull a knife or a gun. If they do that, take pictures and get the cops. Take pictures because that way we have proof that the vandals ARE NOT a part of OWS: they're pointing weapons at protesters.