Post by Finian
Last night and into early this morning I was at Occupy LA at Los Angeles City Hall. From 8:30 - 12:30 it was completely peaceful. people were gathered, singing, speaking, and sharing. Over all it was very mellow and a great energy of about 1500 people. Around 12:00 we were being prepared by the legal ads who told us that the police had informed them that we would be warned by the police to get off the City Hall park or risk being arrested. They said we should have about 10 min after the warning/announcement to leave if we did not want to get arrested. Well, no announcement or warning EVER came AT ALL. Instead, around 12:30 (or so, i did not have my phone with me) cops in riot gear stormed everyone in the park. They came from behind us through the City Hall itself, and they came from all sides. They were not walking slowly and asking us to leave rather they were running at us with batons swinging pushing people into the middle of the park. In those few seconds there were some openings to get out if you could run. There were more police in Riot gear than I have ever seen (we learned later from an officer that almost every single Los Angeles officer was there). They were there to intimidate and remove everyone from the park. I saw several people being hit by batons, people were pushed and trampled. What I was doing there was taking a stand for true democracy. What this occupy thing is about is reminding ourselves that a true democracy does not exist when politicians and the whole government body responds to the 1%s interest instead of that of the 99%. We are living in a society in which the government is run by the rich and the corporations and the rest of us are being represented less and less. It is time to wake up and rise.
