UC Davis--What Really Happened

[irishbosoxfan]

Anyone else see this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhPdH3wE0_Y&feature=youtu.be

 

[Mickey Fliers]

These privileged, mob mentality "protesters" make me sad for our future.

 

[Magic Mom]

Thanks for posting this. I don't feel a bit sorry for them. They blocked the police from leaving with the arrested students, they were warned repeatedly, the police attempted to reason with them, they clearly knew they werre going to be sprayed and CHOSE to stay put. They got what they asked for.

I love they part where the idiots were screaming "Don't shoot children!" I have no problem with protesting if it's done lawfully. I may not understand their protest, but I support their right to protest. But when you act like thugs you get treated like thugs.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

Thanks for posting this. I don't feel a bit sorry for them. They blocked the police from leaving with the arrested students, they were warned repeatedly, the police attempted to reason with them, they clearly knew they werre going to be sprayed and CHOSE to stay put. They got what they asked for.

I love they part where the idiots were screaming "Don't shoot children!" I have no problem with protesting if it's done lawfully. I may not understand their protest, but I support their right to protest. But when you act like thugs you get treated like thugs.

I agree. And I think they went too far when shouting things like "F" the police. In my opinion, the protesting students were acting in a threatening manner, by forming a circle and not allowing the police to leave. I find this no different than a group of people who circle an individual. You have no idea what they will do to you. That is threatening. These students were obviously angry/trying to prove a point. I especially liked the point when they told the police they would give them "a moment of peace", then later said they were peacefully protesting. Without knowing it, they told the police they had gotten out of hand.

 

[Jennasis]

I heard them warn that they'd be handcuffed and arrested, but no mention of being assaulted with pepper spray.

I still feel the police acted innappropriately with the pepper spray. This isn't a military state. I have very strong feelings about arresting protesters.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

I heard them warn that they'd be handcuffed and arrested, but no mention of being assaulted with pepper spray.

I still feel the police acted innappropriately with the pepper spray. This isn't a military state. I have very strong feelings about arresting protesters.

First, the officers went up to the students sitting on the road and said directly to them "you understand that if you continue to block our path, you are subject to the use of force". (Paraphrasing). The students either ignore the officer or nod yes.

The minute the protestors went from being a "peaceful protest" to surrounding the officers and not allowing them exit, they become antagonizers and were well aware of the consequences.

Let me ask you...you are trying to leave an area and someone is blocking your path. You ask that person repeatedly to clear out. They do not. They continue to block you in and then start demanding that in order for you to get out, you have to give them something...say your purse. What do you do? Do you consider that person blocking you in to be a threat?

 

[plutotek]

Given the totality of the circumstances, the pepper spray was the mildest form of protection the police could use. They were surrounded, outnumbered, and faced w/threatening advances. I don't object to the pepper spray, and wouldn't have objected to a stronger show of force.

 

[Christopher Robin]

Paul Harvey, And now the rest of the story.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Thank you so much for sharing. I wish more people would see "the rest of the story."

 

[akhenaten]

I heard them warn that they'd be handcuffed and arrested, but no mention of being assaulted with pepper spray.

I still feel the police acted innappropriately with the pepper spray. This isn't a military state. I have very strong feelings about arresting protesters.

I agree , and if the administrators of any college my child attended sent in police in riot gear with weapons I would be livid!!
Unless the students were rioting , it it an absurd reaction!!

I also like the current mentality of taking something that one person does (in a group )and applying blame to all members.. one idiot yells F the police and some posters here have to say "they" were yelling that at police...

 

[akhenaten]

The school chancellor who chose to call in the police is to blame for overreacting and setting up the whole stand off...

 

[Magic Mom]

I agree , and if the administrators of any college my child attended sent in police in riot gear with weapons I would be livid!!
Unless the students were rioting , it it an absurd reaction!!

I also like the current mentality of taking something that one person does (in a group )and applying blame to all members.. one idiot yells F the police and some posters here have to say "they" were yelling that at police...

When they went from protesting to blocking the police from exiting with the arrested students, they lost my support. They were warned several times and could see the offier shaking the pepper spray. They could have, at that point, moved out of the way, but they wouldn't.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

The school chancellor who chose to call in the police is to blame for overreacting and setting up the whole stand off...

The students are the ones responsible for their own behavior. You can't blame anyone else. and as far as the "F" the police comment. That was me. If you go back to the clip and watch at around 8:45 you will hear that it was a group of students who chanted that, not just one individual.

 

[bellebud]

I heard them warn that they'd be handcuffed and arrested, but no mention of being assaulted with pepper spray.

I still feel the police acted innappropriately with the pepper spray. This isn't a military state. I have very strong feelings about arresting protesters.

I heard the police ask the seated protestors if they understand that force will be used against them. And I don't feel they were 'protestors' anymore, once they blocked police, it took it to a whole different level.

I agree , and if the administrators of any college my child attended sent in police in riot gear with weapons I would be livid!!
Unless the students were rioting , it it an absurd reaction!!

I also like the current mentality of taking something that one person does (in a group )and applying blame to all members.. one idiot yells F the police and some posters here have to say "they" were yelling that at police...

Way more than one person chanted F the police. It wasn't one person who yelled it once.

These *children* as they chose to identify themselves as, have no right to block our police force. They were trying to bully the police, saying "let them go and we'll let you go". Do these *children* think that those who have the biggest stick and is the strongest should win? THAT's a military state. These children were acting more like that than the police did. The police where within the law, within the constitution. What the protestors did was illegal - interfering with legal police activity.

These kiddies need to get back to class, get a job, pay some taxes, then I'd love to hear from them.

 

[scheddj]

Other than the captioning, what was the difference between this clip and all the others on U-Tube?

 

[Oreo Cookie]

I still believe the pepper spray was excessive. The polices should have just arrested the protesters, which is what they did AFTER they pepper sprayed. The spraying was excessive imho.

As an after thought, all charges have been dropped against the students who were arrested, and UC Davis picked up the medical bills of a few that went for medical treatment. UC Davis is also reviewing its procedures.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

As an after thought, all charges have been dropped against the students who were arrested, and UC Davis picked up the medical bills of a few that went for medical treatment. UC Davis is also reviewing its procedures.

In my opinion, the behavior of the students was counter productive to their original protest because now, the cost of the medical bills will trickle down to the students in the form of higher tuition fees.

 

[DeaverTex]

I was in college ROTC in the early 1970's. I know what it's like to be surrounded by large numbers of people who are objecting to your presence, and who are refusing to let you move unless you meet their demands. I felt that exact same feeling in this video, from the police's standpoint. Believe me when I say that being surrounded by a hostile, chanting mob is terrifying.

They were sent in to remove demonstrators who had been determined to be in a place where they shouldn't be. I can't speak to that decision, because I don't know any details. It was explained to the demonstrators that if they didn't move, they were subject to arrest, and some acknowledged. When the demonstrators didn't move, arrests began. No big thing.

Then the demonstrators tried to throw their weight around by passive aggressive actions like making demands and surrounding the police and not allowing them to move until those demands were met. Once chanting and threats began, this was no longer a peaceful protest, but a mob. Mobs are very dangerous because they have their own life, totally separate from that of the people in the mob. Mobs turn to violence VERY quickly, and without warning.

Sure, I wish that the pepper spraying hadn't happened, but then again I'm so glad that no other forms of force or violence were used by either side. (I've been pepper sprayed too, and while it's no fun at all, there are much worse things -- like tear gas or riot batons.)

 

[Magic Mom]

I still believe the pepper spray was excessive. The polices should have just arrested the protesters, which is what they did AFTER they pepper sprayed. The spraying was excessive imho.

As an after thought, all charges have been dropped against the students who were arrested, and UC Davis picked up the medical bills of a few that went for medical treatment. UC Davis is also reviewing its procedures.

There were also student arrested BEFORE the pepper spray, and they were with the police when they were surrounded and barred from movement.

 

[Oreo Cookie]

In my opinion, the behavior of the students was counter productive to their original protest because now, the cost of the medical bills will trickle down to the students in the form of higher tuition fees.

That is true.