That's an interesting question. If this command, for the wire specifically, did NOT come as a direct order from His Feral Lowness, then perhaps it could be attributed to one of those bureaucratic drones under him who simply cannot imagine civil disobedience. So the escalation would be nothing more than the natural byproduct of someone not understanding that doubling down might earn them some nasty blowback from the "serfs." In either case, I believe they will find in the end they have underestimated us.
The zealous swivel servant who thinks he or she is loyally upholding the law, no matter how misguided, is as likely as a vengeful obamabot. If you merely follow the regulations to the letter you avoid personal responsibility. Nice.