If it's all about "public health and safety," why arrest a sink?

Under the guise of protecting "public health and safety," the arrest and removal of Occupy Wall Street protestors continues in several cities across the country.  To test the lame excuse that the encampments are not sufficiently clean, some clever folks at Occupy Boston introduced a sink for washing hands, dishes and whatever else needed cleaning.  The device was specially prepared by someone at MIT, using methods that transforms the runoff into "greywater" that can be harmlessly poured onto the lawn of a city park.  This is a civil liberties protecting, Lemelson Prize caliber, technological innovation of the highest order, a political artifact supreme.

The Boston Police were not amused.  During a crackdown of Occupy Boston last night they arrested demonstrators and confiscated the ingenious sink.  A news report from a local web site gives the details.

A standoff between Boston Police and occupiers ended with an arrest late Thursday night after officers apprehended a makeshift sink being delivered to Dewey Square.

According to police, Atlantic Avenue was temporarily blocked off and one protester was arrested for disorderly conduct and assault and battery on a public employee as members of Occupy Boston allegedly tried to keep police from removing the sink from the property.

Officers eventually hauled away the sink in a police vehicle. . . .

The sink, which cost the group roughly $200, was made so occupiers could address complaints city officials made in a court hearing earlier in the day in regards to sanitation and dirty dishes.  . . .

“It’s ironic that the city would complain in court about sanitation and in the same day remove a sink,” said B from Allston.

B, who wouldn’t give a full name, said campers are constantly working to improve the site at Dewey Square.

“When we try and get the sink, they then tell us we are being violent,” he said.

After the commotion settled, protesters began chanting “whose sink, our sink,” a play on words from one of their regular chants when marching through the streets of Boston.


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One of the signs of the imagination and resourcefulness of the Occupy movement is to test the absurd reasons offered by governments at all levels for the suppression of citizen rights.  As incidents of this kind spread, the application of raw, arbitrary power is unmasked for what it is. 

The underlying message turns out to be:  "We're using police force to protect the interests of the oligarchy that has seized control of the U.S.A.  Don't ask about our justifications  Just bow your heads!"