Posted by alguna_rubia at 2:01am Nov 21 '11...but this happened at my school on Friday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJmmnMkuEM
I walked past the quad while this was happening, and I could see the cops through the crowd of onlookers. No one was throwing rocks, no one was throwing punches, no one was doing anything but standing and chanting or sitting passively with interlocked arms. They were given a letter at 2:30 saying that if they didn't remove the tents, they would be arrested. They expected to be arrested, they didn't expect to be pepper sprayed in the face. It was a protest in solidarity with UC Berkeley, our sister campus, where people were beaten with batons earlier last week.
I had no intention to protest before this happened, but I'm going tomorrow. No tents, I'm just going to stand there with the other protesters during my lunch hour, before I go to the death star for class. I'm not sure I agree with the Occupy movement in general, but I certainly believe that it's not okay to pepper spray people who are sitting calmly and not rioting in any way. I also am protesting my chancellor's assertion that students were pepper sprayed in the face to keep the campus safe, because that is ridiculous.
If you have opinions or questions, I'd love to hear them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJmmnMkuEM
I walked past the quad while this was happening, and I could see the cops through the crowd of onlookers. No one was throwing rocks, no one was throwing punches, no one was doing anything but standing and chanting or sitting passively with interlocked arms. They were given a letter at 2:30 saying that if they didn't remove the tents, they would be arrested. They expected to be arrested, they didn't expect to be pepper sprayed in the face. It was a protest in solidarity with UC Berkeley, our sister campus, where people were beaten with batons earlier last week.
I had no intention to protest before this happened, but I'm going tomorrow. No tents, I'm just going to stand there with the other protesters during my lunch hour, before I go to the death star for class. I'm not sure I agree with the Occupy movement in general, but I certainly believe that it's not okay to pepper spray people who are sitting calmly and not rioting in any way. I also am protesting my chancellor's assertion that students were pepper sprayed in the face to keep the campus safe, because that is ridiculous.
If you have opinions or questions, I'd love to hear them.