There's a number of reasons people could be arrested for at these protests. Loitering, disturbing the peace, breaking the public sound level ordinance, jaywalking, public drunkeness, littering (have you seen what the ground looks like around wall street lately because of these demonstrations?), harassment of stock brokers, etc. There are plenty of minor crimes that these people are likely committing that the police normally never respond to but are being pressured to now by their superiors. It's only natural too, once you bring attention to yourself, skeletons will come out of the closet so to say.

So just because people are being arrested doesn't mean that the government is out in full force silencing them. They're probably being picked up on minor things and it's just an illusion of tyranny. However, shutting down cell phone networks seems a bit overkill in terms of getting these people out of the streets and back to work.

In the end, I see no changes to the way things work transpiring from this. People will lose interest and forget or aren't motivated enough to go out and protest. This is only minorly inconveniencing the people the protestors are trying to shut down at best and probably will do likewise once this gets into full swing.

Also, to the people who are carpooling across the country hoping that this will fix the economy... what about their jobs? I'm sure up and leaving to sit in the street without the boss' blessing will only make the economy worse as fewer people come to work and less stuff gets done.

edit: I suck at words

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Lewis: Ok, we need to gain the trust of some villagers.
TotalBiscuit: I think Simon's qualified to do that!
*Simon approaches a villager and summons a swarm of angry bees*
Simon: Hello! Do you like bees!?
*The villager drops dead from the bees*
Simon: Oh dear... Um, that could have gone better...

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