Protesters are objecting to the way the city is portraying them saying that the city is exasperating and that most of the sanitation problems come from the homeless people of the city who where there way before the occupiers got there. Since San Francisco is not the only city to complain about sanitation in the camps it is hard to tell which side is right.
With this, a statement by the SFPD promising arrests, and the Oakland police raids on occupy Wall st. camps it looks like the Bay area is becoming an unwelcoming place for the protesters.
8 comments:
Perhaps Jon Stewart & co. state it best:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/286738/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-wall-street-occupied#s-p7-sr-i1
I agree with Sabrina (thank you for the video, it was funny and informative all at the same time).
I think that if the Occupy Wall Street protesters want to protest, they have every right to and they should in order to make change, but I think the protesters are going about it in the wrong way. They really need to look at everything they are doing and be aware that every negative, disgusting, unsanitary, etc. thing they do makes a bad name for the protest and the people as a whole who are protesting. That video made it seem like the protesters are barbaric. If they continue and do not clean up their act, it will be used against them and whatever it is that the individuals want to accomplish personally, and as a whole, will not be respected.
I'm going to agree with Sabrina and Lexi. When protesting, don't draw attention away from what your protesting about by doing something (like relieving yourself in public) that will definitely take redirect the attention away from the protest. It just isn't wise. On a totally random point, this reminds me of the funniest Anderson Cooper 360 episode I have ever seen. It is the one where he laughs uncontrollably about Gerard Depardieu and an airplane (don't think I need to actually say what happened).
Anyway, back to the post. If the protesters are going to be successful, then they need to win the favor of the people, not tick them off (I avoided the obvious pun here). I support what they are doing, and as that woman in the John Stewart episode said, they are exercising their right to freedom of expression. In a democracy, actions like this should be expected, even though we are a representative democracy rather than a true democracy.
I agree with the comments about protestors having every right to voice their opinions, however I believe law enforcement has a duty to protect the businesses and people around the protests. If the protestors have become a hazard to public health then law enforcement has every right to shut them down.
I was surprised to hear that the SFPD didn't follow through with their plans to takedown the protestors and arrest people. It is my guess that they were fearful of the raid turing violent like the one earlier by Oakland police in Oakland.
Possibly one of the things that can end the Occupy protests is the degrading sanitation.
What I don't understand is how people allow to let their personal hygiene degrade like this. It seems natural for protesters to forget these basic things and end up developing a shantytown in the middle of the sanitary financial district.
Then again, I don't see how this world protest is going to change anything if it just involves sitting in front of a couple banks. If these banks are run by people that can give bonuses after causing a global recession, I'm sure they can live with a couple (thousand) angry people at their front doors.
While I think the protestors have their right to voice their opinions and demonstrate their views, I do not think allowing general health standards to reach such levels is appropriate. I do not think the police and city should exaggerate the conditions, but I do think they have the right to take action should standards fall too low. As for the protestors, agreeing with previous commentors, I think allowing sanitation levels to fall so low only detracts from their main purpose and perhaps even gives them a bad name. Overall, health hazards affect everyone in the city, even those with no active voice or role in or against the protests.
Protesters definitely have the right to voice their own opinion. However, if it's going to interfere with other people who have nothing to do with the case, the protests should be stopped. It's not fair for innocent people to have to deal with the unsanitary parks and camp sites. There should definitely be law enforcements to prevent this from happening. I believe that there is a line that should not be crossed. From what I read, the protesters crossed the line. Once human health has to do with the issue, the Department of Public needs to step in.
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