Provocateur – A person who induces others to break the law so that they can be convicted
Provocateurs or provocative agents are no strangers to disrupting social movements, usually in the form of disrupting nonviolent protests. Martin Luther King Jr. had his nonviolent protests thwarted during a Civil Rights protest in Memphis, Tennessee when undercover agents “attacked” police officers giving police the justification to brutally stop the protest. In recent news, according to The Guardian, Patrick Howley, an editor for The American Spectator admitted that he wished to “undermine the Occupy Wall Street movement” by inciting an incident in Washington D.C. earlier this month.
Police tore down tents, threw away donated food, and closed Lincoln Park early Friday morning around 3:15 a.m. Arnie, a Occupy Denver protestor, reported that he saw an undercover police “protester” leaving the parking garage where police waited in riot gear. Arnie claims that he saw the undercover protester leave the parking garage with a protest sign and then proceeded to join the crowd where he called for a “mic check” to address the protesters, which led to one of many divisions in the crowd.
Activist Tim Holland who regularly attends Occupy Denver’s daily general assemblies reported that yesterday’s meeting kept being interrupted by an angry person who kept suggesting that they go march down Colfax, which had no relation to what the congregation was discussing (but was picked up by news outlets). Holland also mentioned how a middle-aged woman was one of few people who did not get edited out of a Channel 9 news report that involved her explaining that the park full of drug dealers and homeless people. She kept repeating this even though Holland pointed out to her 3 mainstream news cameras. A forum was quickly suggested after the meeting to address her concerns. The woman and Occupy Denver did state that they were not against the homeless just the dangerous homeless. The complaint by Occupy Denver members is that the mainstream media is only displaying instances of negative comments, which spreads disinformation to the population.
The mainstream media has also been accused of providing false information to the public regarding Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Denver protests. Tim Holland explained that Denver’s Channel 4 was at their general assembly Sunday October 16, and falsely reported that Occupy Denver planned to march on 16th street mall later that night. Denver’s Channel 9 and Channel 7 have also been accused of promoting a riot, stating that Occupy Denver planned “To fight back” on October 14 despite Occupy Denver’s statement of remaining nonviolent. Denver’s Fox 31 reported yesterday that protesters were “squaring off” with police, even though Occupy Denver has never physically fought back at any protest.
Call it a conspiracy, call it bad journalism or call it logic, but provocateurs in Occupy protests are most likely a reality because there are many invested interests at stake with protesting corporate greed. Clear Channel runs most mainstream media (including KBPI, who was conducting false interviews last week see article http://www.examiner.com/progressive-in-denver/governor-hickenlooper-tells-occupy-denver-to-leave) alongside NewsCorp, Disney, and AOL Time Warner. Banks and large corporations all advertise through Clear Channel avenues, therefore protecting their advertising dollars would certainly be an interest. When following profit, the evidence of corruption often trickles down like Occupy protesters agree corporate money does not.
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