By Rebecca DiFede — In a startling act of misguided idiocy, a group of Occupy D.C. protesters, as well as members of other occupy movements from across the country laid down in the middle of K street and linked arms, blocking the road in protest of all of the lobbying firms and “big corporations” in the area. When the police arrived and asked them to move, they refused, and more gathered to lengthen the chain.
After asking several times for the protesters to get up as they were blocking traffic down a major bus and car lanes and increasing commutes by over an hour, the police began arresting them one by one. As they were taken into custody (some having to be dragged because they refused to stand up) the surrounding crowd, applauded and cheered “We love you!” When asked to back up, or else be arrested with their friends, they quickly receded to the sidewalk but not without shouting chants like “Pigs in blue!” and “Who do you serve? Who do you protect?” How very Kent State of them.
As far as I’m concerned, these crazed occupiers have crossed the line. It was one thing to build the ever-expanding tent city in the middle of McPherson Square and, over time, allow it to transform from a healthy protest to a seething cesspool of the drug addled and vagrants. They held their signs, sometimes they chanted and asked questions of passersby, but up until this point, they had not disrupted the flow of life in the District.
But to form a human chain in the middle of one of the busiest streets in Washington in order to say, what exactly? That they’re peaceful people? That their movement is organized and has a point to prove? If so, they couldn’t be worse at it.
62 occupiers were arrested, most for obstructing a public highway but there was one charge for misdemeanor assault of a police officer. Here again we see an example of just how peaceful and well-mannered these protesters are.
It’s not surprising that an unofficial survey taken of Occupy D.C. residents found that not only were they far less educated than other Occupy movements across the nation, but sixty percent of the members are unemployed. And not having a job gives one endless amounts of free time with which to lie down in the street and ruin the day for everyone who was actually trying to get to and from their jobs.
Aren’t they supposed to be advocating jobs? Don’t they want people to respect and join them? Because blocking an entire street and making it so that no one working in the area around McPherson Square can get home from their job, or go anywhere else by car or bus is not a good way to garner support for your cause.
Luckily for those working on K Street, it seems that the end is near for the Occupy D.C. camp. As the weeks go by they grow more and more erratic and disorganized, and soon they will all be cleared out. Maybe they’ll go occupy an unemployment center so that they can help stimulate D.C. rather than pollute it.
Rebecca DiFede is a contributing editor to Americans for Limited Government.
