'Occupy Chicago' arrests not helping the protestors cause

Occupy Chicago, a sympathetic protest in support of Occupy Wall Street, has suffered a setback after 130 protesters were arrested early Sunday. The protesters were taken into custody after refusing to leave a park once it was closed to the public. Such acting out cannot help a movement that is gaining mainstream support.

CHICAGO, IL (Catholic Online) - This is the second such group of arrests in Chicago within a week. Last week, 175 protesters were arrested.

The arrests were made in Grant Park, after demonstrators erected tents and refuse to leave. Demonstrators are warned that they could not stay in the park overnight, and that they would be arrested if they did not leave by its stated closing time.

Most of the protesters were released after promising to appear in court. The charges against them are very low misdemeanors, a simple violation of city ordinance. According to police, the park is closed after 11 PM.

The Occupy Wall Street protests have grown steadily since they began almost 6 weeks ago. Sympathetic protest have broke out all across the country, even in small town America. The largest protests continue unabated in big cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

The Occupy Wall Street protesters are objecting to what they say is a lack of representation in government. They are also protesting corruption, corporate greed, and chronic high unemployment.
According to protesters, corporations exert the greatest influence on government, while the individual has very little say in how business is conducted on Capitol Hill.

While some have dismissed the movement out of hand, arguing that it's comprised primarily of socialists, and troublemakers, others have affirmed the role of the movement in framing  a needed national conversation. Throughout the summer, political figures commented heavily on the national debt and deficit reduction while other topics such as high unemployment, healthcare reform, the cost of education, and corruption were ignored. Since Occupy Wall Street movement began, this has changed.

It is certain that the Occupy Wall Street movement has its share of miscreants, troublemakers, and anarchists. However, some point to the presence of intellectual elements in the movement and the manner in which most of the protests have been conducted as positive. The social emphasis of the movement has also attracted some religious organizations who have noted that the protesters are not all radical leftists.

A part of the reason the protests continue is the social effects of a declining economy. Many of the young who support the movement lack job prospects and are critical of steadily rising education costs.Many students are compelled to sustain tens of thousands of dollars in debt to gain an education that may not pay off for many years, if ever. 

And older, middle-class Americans are lamenting what they say is the increasingly elusive American dream. It is this segment of the population that is contributing to the religious (and predominantly Christian) participation in the movement. Further evidence of this is seen in sympathetic protests that are occurring in America's heartland far from universities and urban centers.

It is unclear if the movement will coalesce into a large-scale political upheaval, but the, occasional illegal behavior on the part of the protesters does not appear to be doing the movement any good.

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