The FBI arrested five suspects last night in what law enforcement describes as a plot to blow up a bridge near Cleveland today. The local Cleveland Scene screengrabs some of their Facebook pages, including the one belonging to Douglas Wright, above.
On the right, the arrests are showing up as a case of "Occupy Leaders" gone way wrong. And it's true that you can find a couple of the suspects had been called Occupy organizers, in a Tumblr post and in this local report. Setting aside that Occupy is leaderless by design, these guys don't seem to have found fertile ground for destruction.
WRIGHT firrther stated that there were not enough anarchists in Cleveland to do what he wanted to do and that more people would be needed in order to help confuse and deter law enforcement. WRIGHT talked about how in other cities anarchists form a large crowd and the outer ring of the crowd will cause damage and riot. When the police show up, the outer ring merges into the center of the group and the center moves to the outside. This technique is called a "Black Block" and is designed to make it difficult for law enforcement to figure out who to arrest. WRIGHT said not enough people are in Cleveland to conduct this type of riot.
Occupy Cleveland has responded to the news by canceling a May Day demonstration. Minutes ago, the Occupy Cleveland posted this on Facebook:
While the group arrested Monday evening by the FBI were associated with Occupy Cleveland they were in no way representing or acting on behalf of Occupy Cleveland or the event that was planned for later today at the GE Lighting building. The May Day Event that was sponsored by Occupy Cleveland, the North Shore AFL-CIO, Cleveland Jobs with Justice, Fight for a Fair Economy and SEIU Local 1 has been cancelled because of the alleged actions of the autonomous group arrested last night. Occupy Cleveland has had affirmed principles of non-violence since its inception on October 6, 2011.