Occupier protesters and encampments in every other major city in America were broken up weeks ago, some after violent clashes with police in which numerous demonstrators and law enforcement officers suffered injuries. In several cities, local laws against camping on public property were broken, the encampments were becoming public health problems because of a lack of even minimal sanitary standards and substantial property damage was inflicted on nearby businesses by occupiers. More than a few violent crimes (including rape and assault) were committed by occupiers, and drug dealing and use in their midst was rampant. So local officials in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, Denver and other cities put a stop to the nonsense and lawbreaking. But not the Department of Interior’s National Park Service, which, for reasons only it knows, has allowed the Occupy DC squatters to remain in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza (both of which are federal property) in the nation’s capital since October. Though initially viewed as something of a novelty, the charm quickly wore off as the encampments extracted a heavy toll on their immediate environments, nearby businesses, and the patience of District of Columbia officials and law enforcement personnel. Last week, Greater Washington Board of Trade President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Dinegar spoke for many when he told WAMU-FM listeners that he is especially concerned about McPherson Square, which he said the occupiers have turned into “a toxic waste dump.” Dinegar also said he fears that “we’re a flash point away from real trouble.”
Congress and the White House have looked the other way as the Occupy DC situation has deteriorated, but that could end Jan. 17 when the flash point feared by Dinegar could well be reached. The Occupiers are promising to field thousands of protesters for Occupy Congress activities on that day. As The Washington Examiner’s Aubrey Whelan reported earlier this week, the Occupiers plan sit-ins to block the offices of individual senators and representatives and those of congressional committees and administrative departments.
Occupy DC’s Mario Lozada assured Whelan that the Jan. 17 actions will be “absolutely peaceful demonstrations.” But he also told Whelan that “it’s hard to ever be able to successfully have a direct action without police trying to stop us. We’ll have flash actions — sort of a surprise, so the police can’t stop us.” Even if the Occupiers only turn out a tenth of the promised number of demonstrators, they could bring official business in Congress to a standstill.
Enough is enough. It’s time for President Obama — who in the early days of the Occupy movement made clear that his sympathies were with the protesters — to find some of the same political backbone displayed by the mayors of major American cities who put an end to the public spectacles before they got completely out of hand. All that is required for the Occupy DC encampments to go away is for the president to order the National Park Service to make it happen. If he instead sits back and allows the Jan. 17 disruptions to happen, Obama will give voters yet another reason to turn him out of office come November 2012.
