First Occupy Deaths

So last night two people were killed in seperate instances, in Occupy Oakland and Occupy Burlington.

From Newser:

Two men were killed last night on separate coasts after shots were fired in or close to the Occupy Oakland and Occupy Burlington encampments. 

Protesters clashed with police as cops tried to close part of the Vermont camp, and local politicians were calling for the California protest site to also be shut down. Six shots were fired in a gunfight at an Oakland BART station near the camp in the early evening. 

An Occupy Oakland spokesman said the dead man did not appear to be part of the protest movement, but may have hidden out in the camp before he was shot dead. "I have been very vocal on the fact that this cannot continue," City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente told ABC7 News. "I think fear has become a reality. They should pack up and leave—if not, we should take whatever action is necessary." 

Across the nation, Burlington cops met with resistance as they tried to shut part of the camp after a 35-year-old war veteran apparently shot himself in a tent, protesters told the Burlington Free Press. Officials said they needed to take over the camp for 24 hours to investigate. "This is a crime scene. We are trying to get answers for the loved ones," said a police spokesman.

To me this indicates the strength that the Occupy movement has gained. When people start dying, that is a commitment to a cause that a lot of people do not have, a level of conviction that is all but dead in this day and age.

Veterans comitting suicide in the tent camps is just one indicator of yet another issue the protestors are trying to bring up, the mistreatment of veterans and lack of psychological help for them when they return home. It's too bad it takes this much to happen for us to see what war does to our citizens, friends, and family.