Cheers, Jeers and Gears at Occupy on Turkey Day!

Occupy Denver cheered loudly when Beth Daoud, 48, pulled up to Civic Center Park with her car festooned with love for her Occupation. Protestors warned her that she would get ticketed for donating, to which she replied “You guys are worth it.” Right on cue, police pulled behind her with intent, and she rolled out with Occupiers clapping and smiling.

Smiles turned into screams of delight as the Honda Accord floored it and led two police cars in a chase around the Capitol. Daoud, a volunteer for Middle East liberty organization, refused to stop for her ticket and instead led the police on a game of cat-and-mouse, pausing to buzz the Occupy encampment once more, horn blaring.

Occupiers chased her to the library, shouting for the mic-check and yelling encouragement to Daoud and cat-calls at the DPD. There they protectively engulfed her car and refused to move until the police left. Warned that a squad car was probably waiting out of sight, Daoud happily replied, “I don’t give a [expletive redacted]!” This, naturally, only made the Occupiers cheer even louder.

This was an enormous morale boost for the protestors, but perhaps it was much more. Contented citizens living under the rule of law feel no urge to break them. When the rule of law breaks down, the law itself has no meaning, and middle-aged middle-class women will openly thumb their nose at the sanctioned hypocrisy. Perhaps the DPD shouldn’t be asking themselves where this woman is so they can arrest her, but rather they should be asking themselves why an ordinary citizen felt society had broken down so far as to make this pleasant-faced American woman feel she had nothing left to lose.

This is what your revolution looks like.

Contributed by on the ground correspondent, Jo Newton