This is an occupation.
Charges against Democratic activists for trespassing have been dismissed, thanks to U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner who intervened in the case and asked the judge to drop the charges.
The Denver Post says the protestors were citied for “occupying” the senator’s office, but the charge was trespassing, because the protestors refused to leave a building after it closed.
The lawyer for the protestors declared it “vindicates the cause of my clients – the fight for health care for all,” but it does not.
If a bar patron refuses to leave the premises after closing time, it does not vindicate their fight to drink, and if shoppers insist on staying at the mall past closing time, it does not set a precedent for shopping times.
The media wants to call these activists “occupiers,” as if that gives some sort of credibility to the protestors’ mission, but again it does not. The original Wall Street “occupiers” camped outside on streets and parks, not inside buildings that were privately owned.
That’s called trespassing, and it’s illegal.
During this week’s court proceedings, protestors were outside the courthouse demanding that all charges be dropped against their five-fellow activists.
It’s important to note that they knew better to kept the protest outside the building, because if they had pulled those antics inside and refused to leave the courtroom, the judge would have thrown them in jail.
The law does and should apply to everyone, no matter their reason for breaking it.
Gardner showed he is a decent human being by asking the judge to drop the charges, but that does not in any way vindicate activists for trespassing.