Re Egypt's protesters - Did anyone notice they weren't enclosed in 'pens' ?

[cyberpj]

I've been really busy while trying to keep an eye on the TV and on DU but seeing all the great photos of the masses in the square, it occurred to me:

Gee, where are the protest pens and how come they're allowed to gather so close to what they're protesting?

[gateley]

1. They were put in storage after Bush left the White House. nt

[cyberpj]

6. I'm not so sure. Seems like lots of Bush era controls have taken on permanence

right under our noses.

[xchrom]

2. free speech 'zones'.

yeah i noticed -- but remember you read it here on DU -- repeatedly.
egypt's people are worse off than us.

[WCGreen]

3. Economically, yes....

Obviously after recent events, the social protest is far more free in Egypt than here in the land of the Free Speech Pen.

When they try this in 2012, I hope we can point to this event and say the Egyptians have more Free Speech than we do in America.

[ananda]

4. Good point!

I think that we are more oppressed over here,
but too many people are addictive and in denial
over it.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. If it was happening in NYC, Bloomberg, et al would deny them permits,

offer "alternate sites" in remote corners of the outer boroughs, and/or block off streets so that to gain access to the "free-speech zone", you'd have to walk 20 blocks north and then walk twenty blocks south.

Freedom of Assembly in the 21st century.

[cyberpj]

8. I just needed a bump and thought I'd tell you I like your username :)

...one of those little things that catch you in just the right way to make a smile.

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. Thanks. It was applied, oddly enough, by a DU Bloomberg supporter.

I decided to make it my own. ( I had the Bloomberg dude banned. It's a DEM website, after all.)

[cyberpj]

13. OH........... So someone thought you deserved it !

And you wear it proudly now.

Love that too.

Doof on dude, doof on.......

[Rex]

7. Believe me, if Egypt would have suffered a 9/11.

Mubarak would not be stepping down right now and the citizens would be scared to go outside at night.

[cyberpj]

14. You sound just like Dick Cheney and

The Project for the New American Century.

[boppers]

9. You didn't see those?

There were boundaries and to get in you were checkpointed, in addition to the barricades they constructed to reduce the amount of rocks and gas bombs being thrown at them.

edit:typo

[cyberpj]

12. I think those boundaries and barricades were created by the protesters

for protection and the ability to back each other up from all sides.

The Republican Convention pens (and others) were created by police via request of our government in the guise of national security and continuation of commerce.

And if we had breached those pens in any appreciable amount citing our right to do so we not only were attacked by our police but would also have been attached by our military if needed.

(Or were you just having fun with me?)

[boppers]

15. Nah, I was extending the topic. Consider it a "bump".

The Egypt barricades/pens had a defense-in-depth strategy:

0. Safe zone, not part of it.
1. Free-fire zone. Get out as fast as possible, or pretend to be part of the dominant group in the area.
2. Police checkpoints (these vanished after the police were effectively broken), where "rabble rousers" were filtered (many wound up in jail, until the police were broken).
3. Military checkpoints, where vehicles were blocked, and stones/molotov/vehicle weaponry was separated.
4. Protester checkpoints, where people were searched, and ID's were checked, to prevent the entrance of weapons, bombs, and "state personnel" into the throngs of protests.

The Republican Convention pens had only two levels: Safe zone, or containment. Of course, there wasn't as much death, combat, and fire involved, nor was the number of people reasonably equivalent.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Mr Obama, tear down these pens.

It is really bizarre, and there we are, tolerating it.