Some practical steps you can take to protect yourself at your local Occupy event

The latest round of police brutality in Oakland has ratcheted up the stakes for all of us. Apparently the cops are going to react as cops almost always do, with violence. Here are a few tips and tactics to protect yourself. Please feel free to add your own.

1. Your head: Though most cops no longer swing a baton at you, it is still a possibility, and in the heat of the scrum, other object can come flying at your head. You need to protect it, and the best, and cheapest method of protecting it is a motorcycle helmet. You can carry it pretty inconspicuously since it is a fairly common item, and put it on when the rubber bullets start to fly. I suggest a face shield to go with that helmet for max protection.

2. Chemical attacks: For skin irritants, I suggest that you smear all exposed body parts with Vaseline, a good six inches above the exposure point. Thus, if your hands are exposed to the wrist, you probably want to apply the Vaseline almost up to the elbow.
For your eyes: High quality, tight sealing swimmers' goggles.

For resperation: You can order a high quality gas mask from many places. Check the web.

3. For Taser protection: They are now making anti Taser/anti microwave cloth called Thor Shield. You would have to make your own clothes, but that's a small price to pay in order to stay alive and functioning during a riot.
<http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7iB8PalOpxoALitXNyoA?p=g2%20consulting%20thor%20shield&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-701>

4. For sonic protection: There is nothing specifically made to counteract this, and I don't know if any research has been made into what can protect you against sonic cannons. My best suggestion is to get a pair of high quality shooter's ear plugs, the kind that are used on shooting ranges.

It is sad that we have to think along these lines simply in order to exercise our Freedom of Assembly rights, but that's where we're at. Yes, you may look over the top showing up with all of this gear, but the fact of the matter is when the gas and beanbags start flying, you will be grateful for your protection. Besides, the cops might just step back if they see a large group of well protected protesters standing their ground, taking the cop's best shots and still holding the protest line.

If you have any suggestions you would care to pass on, please do so. We all need to help each other in keeping safe on the streets.

I don't see how this helps the effort, beyond self-preservation and I surely don't diminish the importance of the latter, of course. But, sadly, it is the publicized brutality itself, and the public's overtly negative reactions to it, that will ultimately make the police back down. I wonder what the effect would be, if the entire crowd could be equipped in a way to allow them to sustain current tactics. Would this simply escalate the brutality and methods to lethal force?

Perhaps some of that money could go towards protecting the more vulnerable of our brothers and sisters out on the street. My local OWS is not going to be violent, so I feel no need to take such measures. However for folks in Oakland and other places, the threat is real and it is only sensible to protect ourselves. I don't believe in getting one's head split open to further the cause if it can be prevented.

I doubt that the brutality would escalate that much because of such measures. Lethal force is not a step that TPTB would take lightly, not with the spotlight beaming down on OWS.