Anyone switching to a credit union with what's going on?

[Flake]

getting pepper spray down their throats (which actually happened at UC Davis)? I think not.

Those protesters had circled the police and were not allowing them to leave, going so far as to say "If you release your prisoners, we will allow you to leave".

That is a big no-no.

The protesters in question (those who are in that now-famous photograph) were informed by the very officer who pepper sprayed them, face-to-face, one-by-one, what the consequences of their failure to allow the police to pass would be, including an explanation of the affects of pepper spray on a person. He even went so far as to ask them if they understood and repeated parts of his explanation when needed.

These people were given over ten separate opportunities to move.

They chose to allow themselves to be sprayed, in part goaded on by the crowd who encouraged them not to move but did not take their place. The officer who sprayed them demonstrated a degree of professionalism and self-restraint that few people (myself included) are capable of.

[MrPopo]

Except the guys who broke into a building and refused to leave.

Does that justify nationwide campaign of violent suppression?

Oh, wait, I'm talking to Popo. A campaign of violent suppresion needs no justification.

I didn't say that. I'm merely countering your assertion that the protestors have done nothing to invite any sort of retaliation. Both sides are engaging in some pretty shitty behavior. Stop trying to paint the protestors as nothing but noble freedom fighters.

[Jmustang1968]

Of course, taken out of context and twisted... what I expected really.

Please please please please please please please PLEASE point to me where "these protestors" try to get sprayed.

I think it was obvious which protestors I was referring to...

[o.pwuaioc]

Of course, taken out of context and twisted... what I expected really.

Please please please please please please please PLEASE point to me where "these protestors" try to get sprayed.

I think it was obvious which protestors I was referring to...

It was. It still is. That's why clearly, in my response, I had one part at the top defending protests, and then after that a separate response to you. Unless you're no longer talking about OWS protesters, but then I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Flake]

That link takes you to a video of the events leading up to the famous UC Davis Pepper Spraying. I bumped it up to the part where the protesters try to coerce the police. Soon after, the consequences of their actions are explained to them, calmly and reasonably.

This is not an example of a legal or peaceful protest.

[J T]

Time to get flamed by the liberal consensus of the site who will now try to nitpick and break apart my generalized post with isolated examples and straw man arguments.

I don't understand why this has become a "liberal" issue. It's true that it is from a numbers standpoint though. The data I have seen suggests that the Occupy protesters are primarily made up of self identified liberals, but it seems like it should be a primarily conservative and bipartisan issue. This is an excessively liberal use of police force, which requires government spending. The government is encroaching on personal rights. The protests are against people exploiting the capitalist system in an unfair manner that hurts the free market. Government policy is being bought rather than crafted ethically. These all sound like typically conservative or bi-partisan concerns to me. It's odd to me that this is painted as a liberal issue when the concerns theoretically cut across party lines.

[Jmustang1968]

That link takes you to a video of the events leading up to the famous UC Davis Pepper Spraying. I bumped it up to the part where the protesters try to coerce the police. Soon after, the consequences of their actions are explained to them, calmly and reasonably.

This is not an example of a legal or peaceful protest.

No one wants to see the whole picture, just the sensationalist results...

[o.pwuaioc]

That link takes you to a video of the events leading up to the famous UC Davis Pepper Spraying. I bumped it up to the part where the protesters try to coerce the police. Soon after, the consequences of their actions are explained to them, calmly and reasonably.

This is not an example of a legal or peaceful protest.

No one wants to see the whole picture, just the sensationalist results...

Not a single thing in that video warrants pepper spraying kids sitting on the ground.

Did you even watch it? Or are you just arguing for the sake of arguing? I mean, I know Flake and MrPopo are authoritarian, but et tu, Jmu?

[Hatta]

I didn't say that. I'm merely countering your assertion that the protestors have done nothing to invite any sort of retaliation. Both sides are engaging in some pretty shitty behavior. Stop trying to paint the protestors as nothing but noble freedom fighters.

The protesters are nothing but noble freedom fighters. Fighting for freedom is a messy business, and sometimes a few laws get broken. The problem is that the response has been wholly disproportionate. Lets do a comparison:

• Protestors: Some people strayed onto private property and wouldn't leave. That's not OK, but no one is really hurt or anything.
• Police: using pain compliance techniques against cooperative arrestees. That's not OK, and it hurts people.
• Bankers: Committed billions of dollars worth of fraud. That's not OK, and it hurts millions of people.

Long story short, if you're on the side of law and order, you have to be on the side of the Occupy protestors. They are more lawful than either the police or the banks.

[Flake]

Obstruction of justice, threatening a law enforcement officer, false imprisonment, trespassing. At least two of these are felonies. What were the police supposed to do? Stay there all day and all night?

The protesters were ordered to leave both by law enforcement and by the owners of the private property they were illegally gathered on, the campus of UC Davis. They then forced the police into a confrontation.

Sorry, zero sympathy. The police should be applauded for using such a minimum level of their force continuum when a much more ruthless response would have been justified. Remember, this all went down when the police were trying to leave. They were trying to walk away, when a crowd that outnumbered them 10 to 1 encircled them and threatened them.

Imagine how little would have been accomplished during the civil rights movement if Dr. King and his associates had encouraged this kind of behavior. Of course, then again, he and his followers were actually fighting for SOMETHING. They had a cause that mattered, something tangible and reasonable.