So... free speech is too expensive?

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/11/11660207-cities-occupy-protests-cost-taxpayers-millions?lite

"Los Angeles officials say the costs of police overtime and cleaning up local parks due to the Occupy protests have nearly doubled to $5 million, as cities across the country continue to tally the protests’ price tag."

A couple of things. First, when did the cost of free speech become a problem?  I'm under a Permanent Injunction in Florida because, for one reason, a judge there thought it was getting too expensive for the county to allow us to protest.

Second, why do cities constantly overspend on Occupy?  When I visited Denver there were up to 20 cops constantly surrounding the Occupy encampment there. NOTHING was going on.  It was just a huge over-reaction by the city to some protester-campers.   In the perhaps 12 hours I was there the city could have easily just had one cop there for most of that time (some of it was a march through city streets, so I can see the need there).

So the cities overspend, then whine that the protests are costing them too much.  Ridiculous.