Police mace the hell out of peaceful OWS protesters

[MotionMan]

makes no sense why the police attack OWS but not the ignorant tea partiers.

Serious question: Which tea partiers?

MotionMan

 

[sjwaste]

Every time the police crack down and overreact to a situation, the protesters get a little further in their cause (whatever that might be). Look at American history and you'll see it happen time and time again.

It's not really clear what Occupy actually want. That's their main problem.

 

[dmcowen674]

ATOT POSTERS: When is it OK to use pepper spray?

On you

 

[MotionMan]

Every time the police crack down and overreact to a situation, the protesters get a little further in their cause (whatever that might be). Look at American history and you'll see it happen time and time again.

It's not really clear what Occupy actually want. That's their main strength.

Fixed it for you.

It is hard to debate with someone if no one knows their position. There is nothing that can be done to reason with them as they have no known cause. You cannot even give them what they want - who knows what it is?

MotionMan

 

[shortylickens]

On you

See, this is why you dont have any friends.

 

[TalonStrike]

Of course the police is overweight and has a mustache. Officer Bubba don't realize that he is part of the 99% too. What a bumbling bafoon.

 

[Corporate Thug]

How do we know that is not what happened?

MotionMan

I'm not saying it didn't...it just didn't appear that didn't turn out that way. Although the video is incomplete, there is no indication of any force from the protestors or any imminent harm that I could see. The school is now investigating...like I said, I think more videos will surface to paint a better picture.

 

[Specop 007]

Sprays are a pretty low risk method to force compliance. Maybe we should be beating the fuck out of them with sticks instead of using very much non lethal methods?

Its fucking simple.

1) Ask
2) Tell
3) Make

The hippies like to stand around and act tough till they win the prize, then its "Those evil fucking pigs!" and lots o' hugs and tears.

Right. How about not acting like a douchnozzle and just follow the instructions and not act surprised when you get a money shot when you dont follow instructions.

 

[Newbian]

ATOT POSTERS: When is it OK to use pepper spray?

When you need to spice up some food?

 

[Bignate603]

I wonder if some of you idiots know what your country would be today if everyone had the same anti-activism, anti-civil disobedience stance that you take on today.

And if you read at all about civil disobedience you'd realize it typically involves people getting removed from places by force.

Civil disobedience by its very nature means that they are breaking the law and are fully aware of it. If they were surprised that they had force used against them they're not the brightest.

 

[sandorski]

And if you read at all about civil disobedience you'd realize it typically involves people getting removed from places by force.

Civil disobedience by its very nature means that they are breaking the law and are fully aware of it. If they were surprised that they had force used against them they're not the brightest.

Indeed. So why didn't they just do that then?

 

[Bignate603]

Indeed. So why didn't they just do that then?

They did, using pepper spray to to break up the group to allow them to more easily be removed without hurting them (in a more long term way than the spray). When a line of people sit down and link arms together they're making it very clear that they are going to resist being removed. If you've every had to physically drag people apart you'd realize that it's not an easy task to do if you're trying not to hurt them. You tend to bang them around a bit, at the very least you're going to be leaving bruise. Also, as soon as the cops physically lay hands on the protesters it increases the chances that they'll react violently.

Considering all of the other information that's coming out about the whole situation (people shoving cops, blocking a train, encircling the officers and preventing them from leaving) the protesters were showing that they wanted to be confrontational. They sprayed them, broke them up, then immediately treated them for the pepper spray. It caused less risk than forcibly dragging people off.

 

[Away]

makes no sense why the police attack OWS but not the ignorant tea partiers.

When has the Tea Party ever behaved like that?

 

[Phokus]

makes no sense why the police attack OWS but not the ignorant tea partiers.

Because OWS is a threat to the wealthy, which is who our government serves. The Tea Party is not (plus they were easily infiltrated and corrupted by rightwing moneyed interests).

That's actually how it is throughout the world. I was just thinking about the G20 Toronto protests when the police were beating people up, infiltrating protest groups to instigate violence, and locking up a LOT of people who didn't even have anything to do with the protests. Contrast that when Vancouver lost the Stanley cup and the police pretty did squat while vancouverites were destroying their city over a fucking hockey game.

 

[sactoking]

As an alumnus of UC Davis who still has student and Davis resident friends, friends who witnessed the incident, this is what I was told:

The OWS protesters attempted to erect a tent city on the school's main quad, which is against campus policy. They were informed by school officials that this was against policy and would not be allowed. After being informed of such they attempted to do so anyway. Campus and city police were on-scene to remove the tents from campus. As they attempted to do so a contingent of protesters linked arms and attempted to block the police access to the tents. The police officers informed the protesters that they needed to disperse. At that time the remaining protesters formed a ring around a small contingent of police. Fearing that they were in danger they vocally informed the protesters, all of them, that if they did not disperse then non-lethal methods would be used to force them to. The police officers then showed the pepper spray to the protesters and when they refused to disperse it was used upon them. The police looked like they did not want to attempt to arrest the linked protesters without first subduing them because the remaining crowd was continuing to threaten them and if there was physical resistance the situation would escalate precipitously.

That's what I was told.

 

[davmat787]

As an alumnus of UC Davis who still has student and Davis resident friends, friends who witnessed the incident, this is what I was told:

The OWS protesters attempted to erect a tent city on the school's main quad, which is against campus policy. They were informed by school officials that this was against policy and would not be allowed. After being informed of such they attempted to do so anyway. Campus and city police were on-scene to remove the tents from campus. As they attempted to do so a contingent of protesters linked arms and attempted to block the police access to the tents. The police officers informed the protesters that they needed to disperse. At that time the remaining protesters formed a ring around a small contingent of police. Fearing that they were in danger they vocally informed the protesters, all of them, that if they did not disperse then non-lethal methods would be used to force them to. The police officers then showed the pepper spray to the protesters and when they refused to disperse it was used upon them. The police looked like they did not want to attempt to arrest the linked protesters without first subduing them because the remaining crowd was continuing to threaten them and if there was physical resistance the situation would escalate precipitously.

That's what I was told.

Wow. Police, or anyone really, will feel threatened if a group circles them. And the police showed them them the pepper spray too, repeating it will be used? If this is indeed an accurate portrayal, I am not sure what else they could have done. No one likes too see people being abused by the police, it is hard not to just blame everything on the police no matter what after seeing the video, but what did the students expect?

 

[goog40]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGagKL_tvS8&feature=related

Looks like fair warning to me.

 

[JMapleton]

To the people defending the protestors: You are missing one important point that the video does not point out.

Where were they protesting? In a public place or on private property? If on private property and they refused to leave, the police had every right to mace them.

 

[sactoking]

Wow. Police, or anyone really, will feel threatened if a group circles them. And the police showed them them the pepper spray too, repeating it will be used? If this is indeed an accurate portrayal, I am not sure what else they could have done. No one likes too see people being abused by the police, it is hard not to just blame everything on the police no matter what after seeing the video, but what did the students expect?

I don't stand by that account as factual, but given that I still have deep-rooted connections to the community, those connections are both liberal and conservative, and I've found them to be trustworthy, that's the most accurate, unbiased portrayal I can piece together from people who said they were there.

 

[OrByte]

Police should hold off on the pepper spraying until the protesters actually start getting violent.

 

[davmat787]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGagKL_tvS8&feature=related

Looks like fair warning to me.

Agreed. That officer approached each of the students, knelt down and yelled so they could be heard, told them they would be subject to use of force, and then asked them if they understand.

 

[DayLaPaul]

This thread is a trainwreck. You have two separate incidents in the OP and people arguing with each other and not even talking about the same incident.

 

[Phokus]

It's against police protocol to use pepper spray against anyone who isn't being violent. To pepper spray someone sitting down and not moving is certainly a violation (and this is why they're being investigated). Anthony Balogna got in trouble for spraying 2 female OWS protestors for this reason.

 

[Phokus]

This... is the eeriest this i have ever seen. UC students stage a protest outside of the UC Chancellor's office, and not a single person made even the slightest peep:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CZ0t9ez_EGI


That's 1000 times more chilling than everyone shouting/screaming at her. You could see how uncomfortable she is.+

Edit: higher quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8775ZmNGFY8

Edit: I get it, they are mimicking the students who sat down and got peppered sprayed. Really smart.

 

[alfa147x]

Fucking awesome. Dumb shit deserve it.