[Caution: I wouldn't recommend small children viewing this.]

Oh, the horror! Santa Claus and one of his elves were spotted running from state troopers near the Austin capitol over the weekend by members of Occupy Austin who caught it all on video.

As a tearful Santa questions his arrest for writing messages of "peace" and "joy" with chalk, a crowd of people gather to watch. Small children are stunned and speechless. The media arrives. The troopers then force the handcuffed Kringle face-down on the sidewalk while they call for back-up after what seems like an eternity of facing the crowd with panicked looks on their faces as they are filmed sending the chalk flying into the street during the take down.

Santa will surely need a vacation after the holidays this year.

The Snowman was nominated for an Academy Award and is broadcast each year throughout the UK. With an introduction by David Bowie, the film is an animated adventure about a young English boy who makes a snowman one Christmas Eve, only for it to come to life that night and take him on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.

The film has a sequel premiering this Christmas Eve, The Snowman and the Snowdog, and you can check here for full TV listings.

Season's greetings from Truthdig. In this year's holiday animation by Mr. Fish, an elf confronts Santa about his exploitation of free labor.