A very ugly situation at UC Davis...for the cops and the students

Here is a report on a really bad situation at UC Davis. Take a look at the video.



Here is the article attached to this.

Police at the University of California at Davis dismantled an Occupy encampment Friday, arresting at least 10 protesters, nine of whom were students.

Videos have surfaced on YouTube of police in riot gear pepper spraying a line of protesters who had linked arms and sat down cross-legged on the pavement to protect their camp. In the footage, an officer is seen spraying the demonstrators at point-blank range...

“Police came and brutalized them and tore their tents down and all that stuff. It was really scary. It felt like there was anarchy everywhere,” student Hisham Alihbob told local station KCRA-TV.

And they had no right to set up tents moron. This is not their property but a university where people have business to attend to. If this is what they are paying thousands of dollars to do they really have no legit complaint about not getting a job, etc. Corporate America doesn't have many activist-protester positions to fill. Unfortunately the federal government does.

UC Davis officials had said the group may occupy the quad for as long as it wants, but could not set up camp.

“It’s not safe for multiple reasons,” UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said.

Police reportedly gave the students a 3 p.m. Friday deadline to remove the 28 tents from campus and showed up at the appointed time when they did not comply.

Reportedly gave a deadline. If you are a journalist in training this is a easy enough thing to verify....like be out there when the cops say "Be out of here by three o'clock or you will be arrested". Or maybe ask some of the protesters if they were warned....just a suggestion. Then again that would require actual work and reporting and we know how journalist hate that.

Spicuzza defended the use of pepper spray, saying officers used force out of concern for their own safety after they were surrounded by students.

“If you look at the video you are going to see that there were 200 people in that quad,” Spicuzza told CBS Sacramento. “Hindsight is 20-20 and based on the situation we were sitting in, ultimately that was the decision that was made.”

Authorities are reviewing video of the incident, Spicuzza said.

Officers left the quad area after making their arrests, leaving the field in a direction not obstructed by seated protesters, CBS reported.

And there is the problem. The field should have never been "obstructed by seated protesters" but cordoned off so the idiots on the ground could have been arrested one at a time without use of spray. More to the point if those idiots (standing or on the ground) got crazy it would be dangerous for everyone.

Yes, I know this is 20/20 hindsight but crowds are very unpredictable. Better to segregate the target audience. Again, the cops were outnumbered something like 5 to 1.

Now these punks were doing their civil duty for a good cause.

Demonstrators were protesting a recently approved tuition increase in the University of California system, according to KTXL.

Wil someone please give these idiots job applications to McDonalds so they can start learning something. The formerly great California university system is obviously failing in that mission.

Hey cops out there, am I wrong on this with handling the protest? Let me know.