Occupiers Should Thank Cops for Kicking Them Out

Outrage followed after the police dismantled the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park this morning, but protesters should actually be thanking Mayor Bloomberg for deciding to kick them out. After all, writes Matthew Yglesias on ThinkProgress, there are only a few ways to end a protest: “The Powers That Be” could give in to demonstrators’ demands—an option Occupy made impossible—or people could simply lose interest and allow the protests to “fizzle out.”

Or there’s this third option, in which the Occupiers get forcibly removed. That’s better than the “demoralizing” scenario in which the protesters fade away, Yglesias writes. “By ordering the protestors to be removed the Bloomberg administration has ensured continued relevance for the issue. All over the internet today all eyes are on New York and on Occupy Wall Street,” he concludes. “The worst possible outcome is for the movement to just kind of fade away, and by trying to forcibly clear the park with the NYPD, Bloomberg has guaranteed that won’t happen.” (Meanwhile, both sides await a court hearing on the eviction, notes the Daily News.)