Oakland protesters upset that they can no longer block traffic.

The horror: “Police made arrests as demonstrators marched in downtown Oakland against the city’s new get-tough policy for monitoring street protests — the second such gathering in as many days… Officers watched closely Sunday night as the protesters marched several blocks. About 100 to 150 people marched before organizers ended the event and then a group of 15 to 20 started another protest, spokeswoman Johnna A. Watson said.”  Basically, the city of Oakland has decided that protesters need to stay on the sidewalks, and not take over the streets – and, not incidentally, refrain from destroying people’s cars.

Oakland, as you probably know, has what protesters would probably call ‘a vibrant commitment to social justice culture’ and everybody else would call ‘a sometimes literally bloody nuisance.’ To give you an idea: protest culture is so, ah, vibrant that in 2003 freaking Moonbeam Brown (who was then mayor of Oakland) felt the need to disperse the crowds with wooden and rubber bullets.  It takes a good deal of skill and ingenuity to be too over the top for a hardcore liberal icon like Jerry Brown, but then I guess that any group that thinks that it needs to have formal pre- and post-protest protests is probably up to the challenge.

You might guess from all of this that I am broadly unsympathetic to the anti-American, Commie-loving, unwashed, seditious, and generally miserable excuses for human beings that make up the Oakland protest ‘scene.’  You’d be correct in that.  And I’d also like to note something, for the benefit of those who want to tell me But they have the Constitutional right to protest! (despite the fact that the Oakland protest scene kind of hates the Constitution): …that’s only kind of true.  The actual phrase is “…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  The ‘peacefully’ is a key word, there.  When you assault people, you are not being peaceful.  When you destroy public property, you are not being peaceful. When you destroy private property, you are not being peaceful.

And when you spend a decade ignoring the people in your midst doing all of that, guess what?  You can stay on the blipping sidewalks. People who are actually useful to society need the roads.

(H/T Hot Air)

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Yes, it is difficult to convince groups that explicitly condemn the concept of private property to respect private property.  I am aware that this is a problem for organizers on the Left. I do not care, but I am aware.

PPS: In case it wasn’t clear: I’ve been doing this gig for over a decade, now.  I am well aware of the fact that the Hard Protest Left takes over every ‘social justice’ movement it can find, hollows the movement out, and then wears the desiccated flesh as a skin mask.  Please don’t insult my intelligence by pretending otherwise.