This article's headline took up about half of HuffPost's main page, so I thought it might be important. It seems that 'Occupy' protesters at UC Davis are the center of a police brutality controversy. Apparently, lots of students gathered on the university's quad in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Upon setting tents up, university officials warned the students that a 'tent city' would not be allowed. Apparently, because the students refused to clear out the tents, UC Davis police used pepper spray on several students. Videos were recorded of police spraying students, and an incident involving an officer tackling a student. Many arrests were made. School officials are justifying the use of pepper spray because students were notified that tents were not allowed. However, many students and bystanders are arguing that they had the right to protest and using pepper spray and violence crossed the line and should be considered police brutality.
I am a bit torn between two opinions. The school apparently did notify students that they could not set up tents on the quad. So, the officers needed to do something to get the students to comply. However, the students did have the right to peacefully assemble on the quad, and many were advocating non-violence. So, it seems a bit extreme to use an agent of force that is as harmful as pepper spray. One woman went to the hospital to receive treatment for chemical burns. I feel like it was somewhat unnecessary for police force to be used over an issue of setting up tents. So, it does seem very harsh, but also justified by the university's prior warnings.
I guess I posted this to get your opinions on matters such as this. Were their 1st Amendment rights infringed upon, or were they acting illegally? Should police be able to use harsh, dangerous tactics such as pepper spray to coerce groups that are not complying? And does the severity of the issue matter, because I think setting up tents is not a highly concerning issue.
As you've told me many times, there have been illegal protests on the mall at UD and this seems to be a similar case. The UC Davis students should have complied and the police officers were within their rights to use force. Whether that force was too much, that's a hard question to answer due to fact that everyone will view the use of force differently. UC Davis students will say that the police officers used too much force, while, the police officers will claim that more force could have been used and that they held back a little in dealing with the protesters.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying for the most part, John. However, the students here were within their rights to protest. What they apparently were not allowed to do was set up a "tent city," as an administrator called it. The issue UC Davis authorities had was that tents were set up, not that they were protesting. And while the students involved should have still complied, I can hardly agree with the view that lack of compliance to a tent policy warrants pepper spray, a harmful chemical that can hospitalize people.
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