(AP)On Friday, UC Davis campus police used pepper spray to remove a group of Occupy student protesters who were seated on the sidewalk. This was part of an effort to dismantle a tent encampment set up on Thursday. Below is a Fox News report.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/19/university-launches-probe-after-video-officer-pepper-spraying-protesters/
The video is below:
http://bcove.me/malwebpb
Below is a letter issued earlier Friday by Chancellor Linda Katehi asking for protesters to remove their tent encampments by 3 pm. (UC Davis official site)
Next is a letter issued by Katehi after the incident with the police. It is dated the same date.
http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/messages/2011/protest_action_111811.html
Below is a letter issued by Katehi today:
http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/messages/2011/taskforce_111911.html
Earlier, UC President Mark Yudof issued this letter in response to violence at UC Berkeley.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/26683
Finally, here is a letter from the UC Davis Faculty Association calling on Chancellor Katehi to resign because of the police actions against the protesters.
http://ucdfa.org/2011/11/19/dfa-board-calls-for-katehis-resignation/
It seems to me that the Faculty Association is angry not just at the use of pepper spray by the officers, but that any police action was taken to remove them at all. The chancellor was correct to demand that the tents be removed. Having another Zuccotti Park set up at UC Davis was an obvious threat to public health safety.
"The Chancellor’s role is to enable open and free inquiry, not to suppress it."
Occupy protests as free and open inquiry? Gimme a break.
Whether or not you think the use of pepper spray was excessive given the circumstances, here is one piece of advice for the students, who still have their entire lives in front of them. When a police officer gives you an order, follow it. You can ask questions and make complaints later.
I think we can all agree on one point; the entire UC system has found itself in one fine kettle of fish.
10 comments:
Doppleganger to the police:
When someone is passively resisting an order to move, put them in a paddy wagon.
Pepper spray was issued for situations where you might otherwise have to shoot, so you can disable someone threatening your own safety without actually killing them.
When a police officer gives you an order, follow it. You can ask questions and make complaints later.
Jawohl mein Fuehrer.
Just one difference, Ingrid. In our system, you can make complaints and ask questions later. That is the difference.
A bit of Yes Sir and No Sir goes a long way. Even if the cop is wrong and is a complete idiot. It has saved me a ticket or two.
There was no just cause for spraying those young people with pepper spray, no matter how you excuse it.
I don't think I excused it. I would like to see some of the surrounding shots of activity before I come to a final conclusion. Personally, I think pepper spray is better used when people are being violent or fighting and it is used as an alternative to a nightstick. Yet, I do think the order from the chancellor to dismantle the tents and encampment was justified. I also think the crowd should have followed the lawful orders of the officers.
I think pepper spray is better used when people are being violent or fighting and it is used as an alternative to a nightstick.
Agreed.
Yet, I do think the order from the chancellor to dismantle the tents and encampment was justified.
Probably so. No political campaign can sustain itself on this kind of campground indefinitely, or without specific, measurable goals. If a prolonged camp site is necessary (see, e.g., Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle, then rigorous camp discipline and sanitation is essential. Not much planning seems to have gone into such details.
I also think the crowd should have followed the lawful orders of the officers.
Obviously the crowd didn't, and was prepared to be arrested. IF the crowd played the game of going limp and trying to give the cops a hernia, then some more forceful measures might have been appropriate, which might or might not have been pepper spray. Ice cold water might have been equally effective.
In our system, you can make complaints and ask questions later.
Yes, and many agencies, not limited to the police, consider it their right to ignore the complaints and file them away. Besides, if the arrests are handled properly, what's the ground for complaint?
Here is a good conservative perspective on the whole situation:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/2011/11/21/have-a-pepper-spraying-cop-thanksgiving/
what is the point of right to peaceful assemble if your told to disassemble?
For one thing Jessica, how can you run a university when hundreds or thousands of students and local activists try to turn it into another Zuccotti park. Is that what you want to see on campus? There are many ways to have a peaceful and orderly assembly. That was not one of them.
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