WASHINGTON- Tear gas and arrests have become fixtures for Occupy Wall Street protesters in cities such as Oakland, Calif., and Atlanta over the past week. However, the scene in Washington is markedly different.
“The one benefit we have is that this is a political city and they’re used to these kinds of things happening,” said Christina McKenna, a protester in McPherson Square, where hundreds of Occupy D.C. activists and protesters have camped out.
She said that occupiers aren’t actively cooperating with the U.S. Park Police, but there haven’t been any clashing between the two.
“My impression is that they have orders to not screw with us at all because they haven’t been at all. No matter what we do,” she said. “Even if we start walking the wrong way in traffic, they just block it off for us.”
Mckenna said police come to the area three times a day to document what is going on.
Occupy protesters at Freedom Plaza have had more adversarial interactions with the U.S. Park Police, with some occupiers getting arrested during demonstrations they staged at nearby public buildings and banks.
Leah Bulger, vice president of Veterans for Peace, was arrested on Oct. 13 after interrupting the House of Representative’s Armed Services Committee meeting on Capitol Hill.
Last week, she again left Freedom Plaza to head to Capitol Hill, where she was escorted out of a “supercommittee” meeting in handcuffs.“Very soon after I was placed in handcuffs the officer said, ‘Are those too tight? Are you comfortable?’” she said. “I think they’re very sympathetic to what we’re talking about. We’re not just disrupting to be disruptive. We have a message and we’re speaking on behalf of them.”
But the scene in Oakland, Calif., last week was much more confrontational. After protesters were ordered to leave Frank Ogawa Plaza, more than 100 people were arrested and one veteran was seriously injured. The city of Oakland is investigating the use of force, Mayor Jean Quan said in a statement.
“When there’s violence, there are no winners—it polarizes us and opens old wounds rather than brings us together, which is the aim of Occupy Wall Street and uniting the 99 percent,” Quan said.
Occupiers in Oakland have since returned to the plaza and plan on launching a general strike.
In Atlanta, about 50 people were arrested last week after the city evicted them from Woodruff Park.
Billie Murray, an assistant communications professor at Villanova University said there are many reasons that protests turn violent. Police may be overwhelmed by the number of people involved and may lack the training to deal with large protests.
“A lot of police don’t get the training they need to protect protesters and the peace,” she said.
U.S. Park Police Sgt. David Schlosser said law enforcement hasn’t had to intervene in the D.C. protests.
“The U.S. Park police diligently protects people’s constitutional rights,” he said.