It's not a secret Governor Cuomo wants Occupy Albany removed from the city park by the New York State Capital. A quickly proclaimed curfew in state controlled land around the encampment resulted in arrests of demonstrators - but Albany County DA David P. Soares has refused to prosecute nonviolent protestors. (Kudos as well to Albany City Police Chief Steven Krokoff, who judged breaking up the encampment on city land would not be a good use of police resources.) The ante has been upped with news today that Soares has been receiving death threats for not pressing criminal charges against trespassers. (more)
A news report on WAMC Wednesday afternoon (not up on web site yet) relates that Soares has turned over the threats to the FBI for follow up. This is the latest development in the Albany situation; on November 15 Albany County Republican Chair Don Clarey called on Governor Cuomo to appoint a special prosecutor to press charges against arrestees. Frustration levels among the 1% and their supporters are building the longer OWS stays in the public eye.
Death threats are not a surprise considering the incendiary language the right wing has been employing. There has been a steady drumbeat of anti-OWS propaganda coming from the right wing media, led by FOX and the usual talk-radio apparatchiks. It should be noted that the violence which has occurred to date has largely been on the part of police forces; OWS has been pursuing a strategy of non-violent confrontation.
If anyone has a reason to be dissatisfied with the current state of affairs however, it should be those whom Occupy Albany is attempting to represent. New York State has seen huge hits to employment and income among the middle class in the last few years. Writ large on the national-international scale, the 1% have to be wondering how much longer they can keep the lid on. The pressure is building.