Last I checked the Dep of Homeland Security was teaching the police how to "deal" with the protesters. So there you go. The police has also become very militarized in the last few years, which is probably one of the fundamental reasons why the police reacts like this against their own non-violent citizens, too. In their minds these citizens are the "enemy".
You don't need to agree with the Occupy movement to think that the indiscriminate use of chemical weapons, violent detention and militarized tactics against US citizens exercising their right to free assembly is outright wrong and sets a disturbing precedent.
