The shocking police brutality at UC Davis last week was just the latest example of authorities reacting to the Occupy movement with violent contempt. But as Roosevelt Institute Fellow Dorian Warren tells CNN's Don Lemon, these overbearing attempts to silence protesters might only be helping their cause. "Every time there's a lull in the protests, there's a spark of something that happens, usually police brutality of some kind, that gets people energized again and gets them motivated and recommitted to the Occupy movement," Dorian says.

As for the police's actions, Dorian thinks the public will agree that the blithe use of pepper spray is "not very different from firehoses, frankly." And though Mayor Bloomberg seemed to score a major victory by evicting protesters from their home base at Zuccotti Park, Dorian believes that being untethered from a specific location or organizational hierarchy may actually work in the movement's favor. He argues that this nullifies complaints about conditions at the parks and "makes it so that there aren't any particular targets that opponents of Occupy can really focus in on." Ultimately, these crackdowns may simply be giving the movement an opportunity to prove its power and durability.

For more of Dorian's take on the Occupy movement, check out his early reflection on what's driving the protests and his analysis of their populist message, co-authored with Joe Lowndes for Dissent.