Occupy Takes a Turn for the Worse

BBC news reported yesterday that Los Angeles police took apart a two-month-old occupy protest camp. Reports said that police wrestled protesters to the ground if they refused to leave. Police wore riot gear and made 150 arrests in Los Angeles. In Philadelphia, a similar event took place where about 50 arrests were made. So the question is, why now? These camps have been present for two months and now all of a sudden police are taking extensive action to remove them. As it turns out, the camp's eviction deadline was two days ago, and police were taking the notice very seriously when protesters still would not leave their camp. Many protesters did leave willingly, but many returned to rally on a nearby street. Personally, I have become less and less of a supporter of the occupy protests. their message has become hazy as more issues arise, and their protests have become sloppy. It's now unclear what exactly they are fighting for. Even here on campus, occupy UMass persists. Tents are set up in the middle of campus, although no one is actually staying in the camps.They occupy different buildings on campus and march around outside in the middle of the day. Their practices have become more or less an annoyance rather than a statement.They disrupt classes, pester employees who have nothing to do with the problems they are having, and don't actually get their messages across. I would have more faith in their cause if they knew what their cause was. They tackle too many issues at once and expect equal attention to each, but really it just makes it difficult to know what the individual issues are. Also, their protests on campus are sloppy and not very well executed. Twelve people running around the Whitmore Administration building holding signs and screaming doesn't exactly send a professional or serious message.