Like a typical Pisces, I have the tendency to look at both sides of an issue, and often can't make up my mind about which side I agree with. When it comes to the Occupy Wall Street movement, I agree in theory but not entirely in practice.
While I agree that our economy is in shambles and our country at a low, I'm not sure that simply occupying a park will really solve any of those problems. As a college graduate looking to go to graduate school and currently working full time, I know what's it's like to have loans. To worry about your future. To believe that the 1% are running the country while the 99% slave away below the windows of the Park Ave. mansions. I agree with the sentiment of the protestors that something needs to be done and I agree with their right to protest and free speech. I believe that the protest did help raise awareness in this country about the great disparity between the wealthy and the rest of us. I believe it did spark other protests and the beginnings of a discourse in the country. I believe it does make an important point (or, several points, since many of the protestors seem to have different ideas of what's the best strategy and what the real problems are).
But these protests, I believe, should not create unsanitary or unsafe conditions in the community. These protests should not create an unnecessary burden on taxpayers, which is what it's doing. Who is ultimately going to end up paying for the police force needed to evict them or clean up the park? It's going to come out of taxpayer money. And when rumors of weapons, feces on the ground, and sexual assault come into play, the community is bound to react with complaints, and the movement will lose support.
At 1
a.m. on Tuesday morning, police conducted a raid on the protestors in
Zuccotti Park, awaking most with blaring klieg lights and, later,
forcible eviction, according to a New York Times article.
Many protestors simply picked up their belongings and left, although a
core few tried to stick it out in the center of the park. Others broke
into a lot belonging to Trinity Church with bolt cutters. After 2 months, the protest in the park came to and end. And
although protestors have been allowed back into the park and say they won't give up the fight, a judge ruled
that they couldn't camp out or bring tents or other gear into the park,
which had been designed as a 24-7 recreation center for the community.
At about 7 a.m. this morning, the Daily News live blog reported that only a mere 25 protestors had remained or returned to the park.
