Unlike Occupy Wall Street protests elsewhere, the Las Vegas bunch has been painfully quiet, polite and respectful by comparison. They did not initially take over some public space and turn it into a crime riddled shanty town. Instead they sought and obtained the correct demonstration permits and leased a section of land on the edge of town. There are no reports of open latrines, nor have we heard horrendous tales of crime in the encampment so common to the New York crowd.
In all fairness, the Las Vegas group is relatively small in comparison and our local laws, and law enforcement, are less favorable to protesters in general. But today they really showed their mettle. Organizing fairly early, before 8:00 a.m. by some accounts, the group gathered on Las Vegas Boulevard between the Lloyd George Federal Court House and the Alan Bible Federal Building in downtown.
About 50 people gathered (with about the same number of law enforcement from various agencies nearby) to chant, pound drums and generally protest everything. Some were upset about the middle east in general while others had a beef over the wars. One fellow felt 9-11 was an inside job and the "Facebook President of the World" - as declared by his shirt- believes bridges are in order, not walls and somehow that translates to a free...Palestine.
Then the mood changed. Not the frenetic build up of a riot, but the compelling surge known to every person who has ever attended a planned event. "The show is about to start" was the mood, ushered in when the main stream media arrived. Like clockwork a small group of protesters walked into the street and sat down. The rest of the group gathered closer in symbolic if not actual support.
The police immediately closed of the north bound lanes of traffic and reminded the group to stay out of the south bound lanes, per the agreement. The mass transport bus was brought from its holding area together with several officers. The lead officer read a prepared statement informing the crowd to disburse or be arrested. Five minutes to find common sense was allowed. Four minutes later a second warning was followed by what was clearly a pre-planned ballet of arrests, each demonstrated rising to be restrained and led away as polite as pie.
Leaving all else aside, this was an incredibly civil demonstration and example of pre-planned civil disobedience. Close observation of the crowd revealed a female and two males clearly directing the others. The female provocateur’s accent suggests she is from a large eastern city. Wonder that.
Still, I would love to have been in on the negotiation between the protesters and the police. Were the arrestees selected for looks, ideology or ability to raise bail? Did the Sheriff pick his most photogenic officers to conduct the arrests? Maybe those with a proven tolerance for stupidity without feeling the need to flash back to the 1968 Democratic Convention? We will undoubtedly never know, but it was wonderful street theater for about an hour, and for that I thank the "so called" 99%!
