Chilling videos show police officers at UC Davis (University of California, Davis) pepper spraying a line of seated helpless protesters. The students and faculty members were participating in a peaceful movement against rising tuition costs, cuts in state funding for education, and previous police brutality at UC Berkeley against peaceful protesters there. At UC Davis as the police spray the students and protesters, bystanders are screaming for the police to stop followed by their yelling, “Shame on you!” (as you may see in the videos.)
Since I was a student at UC Davis where I’ve also worked and I had also worked closely with faculty and students at UC Berkeley, I cannot be passive. So, I am writing about this that has occurred.
This behavior by the police is unacceptable and someone must take responsibility, starting with identifying and firing the officers who sprayed the students and work up the line of command firing those who authorized such unnecessary force.
It makes no sense. Chancellor Linda Katehi (who ordered police onto campus) and the police justified their actions stating that they took action because the protestors camping out on campus pose a potential health risk. Yet, the police in pepper-spraying the protestors immediately caused health problems – protestors were hospitalized, some coughing up blood after being sprayed down the throat. So, the chancellor and the police are saying that the reason they moved in on the protestors and inflict immediate and certain health problems on these students and professors was because they were trying to prevent potential health problems. That makes no sense. What makes more sense is that they are trying to come up with some excuse or justification to save their ass, now that the videos and the pictures are out, and they are experiencing a PR nightmare.
I also like to point out that it’s ironic that the UC Davis protestors were met with police brutality when one of the cause of that protest was against police brutality in the UC Berkeley protest.
A UC Davis English professor wrote an open letter to Linda Katehi, the UCD Chancellor who ordered the police onto campus, demanding her resignation at:
The news story about the incident at UCD can be found at:
1 comment:
I believe police should try to control but not beat any of the students.
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