The country which claims of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, swayed away from its principles when it used excessive force and coercive measures to quell the protesters at the Wall Street. New York police prevented protesters from shutting down Wall Street on Nov 17, arresting more than 200 people.
Many protesters complained of police brutality, pointing to one media image of man whose face was bloodied during his arrest and another of a woman who was dragged across the sidewalk by an officer. Police barricaded the narrow streets around Wall Street, home to the New York Stock Exchange, and used batons to push protesters onto the sidewalk.
Reports of violence and arrests have been coming from other areas as well. In Los Angeles, hundreds of anti-Wall Street demonstrators marched through the financial district and nearly 80 of them were arrested.
Protesters sit down in front of LAPD officers outside the Bank of America
The Welfare Party of India strongly condemned the brutal methods and use of excessive force by US. Using force, dismantling and tearing the tents and evicting the peaceful protestors by mass arrests, the US government is trying to silence dissenting voice. P.C. Hamza, General Secretary of the Party, stated that this action will only bring disgrace and disrespect to the image of the United States. The General Secretary stated it was least expected from a nation that champions freedom of expression and organisation, a nation that is directly involved in many sovereign nations for regime change in the name of bringing democracy and ensuring freedom of expression for the people there. The Occupy Wall Street protest has started against the wrong fiscal policies of giving out large incentives and bail out schemes for giant corporates and banks at the expense of the majority people. Being a popular idea, the occupy movement got wide appreciation and support and had spread to nearly eighty countries across the globe.
P.C. Hamza stated that the US authorities might succeed in physically removing the protestors, but will fail in evicting an idea, the idea of confronting the corporate greed with moral might of the mass.