Oakland, Atlanta Officials Take It Up a Notch Against Occupy Movement

Tuesday morning’s arrests of Occupy Oakland protesters, along with the recent display of police prowess that Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed visited upon the occupy encampment in his own city, add up to signs of trouble that could threaten the peaceful tone of the movement, at least as The Christian Science Monitor framed it Tuesday. But is this an accurate read on mayoral-movement relations or another attempt at a trend-watch piece on the part of the MSM? You decide. –KA

The Christian Science Monitor:

In Atlanta, after originally giving protesters until Nov. 7 to clear out from a downtown park, Mayor Kasim Reed threatened to revoke that order on Monday. He said the relationship between the city and protesters had changed and campers are “on a clear path to escalation.”

While the original Occupy Wall Street protesters have won standoffs with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, other city mayors are quickly losing patience with the protest movement, which drew inspiration from Middle East revolutions and anti-austerity protests in Europe as it spread to dozens of US cities in recent weeks.

The rising tensions are testing how far protesters are willing to go to draw attention to their cause – and how long local authorities are willing to let their parks and squares remain occupied.

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