COMMENTARY | The Blaze reports that the Oakland Police Department clashed again Wednesday night with the Occupy Oakland protestors, with videos landing on YouTube alleging police brutality against the protestors. The same violent clashes are happening all over the country, with the protestors each time calling it police brutality. After watching some of these videos and following the Occupy Wall Street movement, here is how I feel about this alleged brutality by the police.
For the large part, I agree with the tactics used by the police department in Oakland, Calif., and elsewhere across the country. What is happening is that the protestors are turning to setting items on fire, initiating confrontations with the police, and refusing to leave after being told to. I do not think that the police tactics are out of line because it seems that the protestors are the group escalating the situation to a violent protest, instead of just standing there with signs and chanting what they want or feel is right. The police have been alleged in various areas of using pepper spray, tear gas, and rubber bullets on the protestors, which I really do not think is out of line, unless the situation was non-violent to begin with. Now if the protestors were just standing with a sign and a cop began to pepper spray the crowd, that is obviously wrong, but that is not what is happening.
My standpoint on the Occupy movement is that it is a violent uprising by liberals and progressives, and that this is only the beginning of the major destruction of America. I am against the protestors and what they stand for, but I am also not really siding with the police either on this. I think that the police have a job to do and using force is sometimes required when groups like this try to take over, because the police are often outnumbered during these protests. So after watching numerous videos on YouTube, I largely think the protestors have brought on the police force and actions on themselves, by destroying property that does not belong to them, while also taunting the police. I do not like hearing that a protestor was severely beaten or is in the hospital due to an incident with the police, but at the same time I find it hard to not laugh and think that is what they deserve. There are ways to protest what is going on in America like the Tea Party Movement, but this Occupy movement is nothing like that and is completely on the opposite side of the spectrum.