Protesters pepper sprayed at UC Davis

            There’s been a lot of critique around the news of the police officer pepper spraying the students protesting for the Occupy movement at UC Davis yesterday. I thought that I should address this because a bunch of people that I had spoken to about it had differing opinions. I just want to clarify that I in no way agree with how the police officers decided to handle the situation. Under no circumstances do I think it justified for law enforcers to use pepper spray, a tool that is meant for the purpose of self defense, on innocent students. I agree that I don’t know a lot about laws in America, as I am Canadian myself, but I do know that under the Constitution, the right to freedom of assembly is outlined in the First Amendment.

            According to the Chancellor of UC Davis, the whole reason that the authorities were called was to help ensure the safety and protection of the students. Now what I really want to know is how the use of pepper spray, especially by those who are supposed to be looked up to and respected by civilians, equates protection. I mean, it is true that some of the students probably were out of line in what they were saying, but overall, it was a peaceful protest. The students remained seated along one of the campus’ sidewalks, blocking people from passing them. The way I see it, people that really were in dire need to get to the other side of those students could have gone around them, walking on the grass to get through. Sure, it would have taken a couple more seconds to get by, but hey, sometimes life gives you lemons. What confuses me the most about all of this is that the University agreed that the actions of the police were justified and necessary to ensure students’ “health and safety”. It’s as though the immediately affected students’ health and safety is completely disregarded in this situation.

            I realize that protestors may cause inconvenience for others who don’t share the same passion for standing on the street in the freezing cold weather, waving around signs, displaying their discontent with the establishment to passersby, but it is a right that is ensured to all civilians. That being said, I do not think that the government, police officers, university  officials, or anyone for that matter, reserve the right to remove those protesters off a public premises by means of a weapon.


View: an image of the protest taking place http://i.imgur.com/0UoEz.jpg
View: an image of the email from the Chancellor at UC Davis http://i.imgur.com/WZeNW.png