You are correct. This IS a precursor to coming events - next spring and summer. They are merely working our the logistics and learning from the error of their ways.
Agreed, I would also urge everyone that has even a passing notion of going down to one of the OWS protests, please, please do not do this.
Riots have this bad habit of scooping up everyone around, good, bad, and indifferent. The police cannot, and will not discriminate when it all goes terribly wrong. People who are just bystanders but are near the crowd get injured, and if chemical dispersants are used, there is always the very real threat of getting trampled by a surging crowd who is trying to run from the tear gas.
You have to be very careful when using tear gas in close built up areas, such as cities. If you don’t deploy it properly or in a hurry, you might put in an area that causes the crowd to come to you. If you don’t provide the crowd an avenue to escape, they may bottle up in a structure, which leads to panic, trampling and if the tear gas is concentrated inside the building, it could be lethal.
When US cops start getting injured and killed by protestors, it is going to get truly ugly.
Always carry concealed. Also be advised that there might be a day when you might have to open carry your rifles to keep the miscreants from destroying everything. The anarchists agent provocateurs have no problem with this.