Video: Police pepper-spray passive students

Last Updated 3:42 p.m. ET

Video of a tense standoff between police and Occupy demonstrators at the University of California, Davis shows an officer using pepper spray on a group of protesters who appear to be sitting passively on the ground with their arms interlocked - action the university chancellor called "chilling to us all."

Several videos, which were posted on YouTube, were shot Friday as police moved in on a tent encampment on the campus.

In the video, an officer displays a bottle before spraying its contents on the seated protesters in a sweeping motion, walking back and forth.

Most of the protesters have their heads down, but at least one is hit in the face.

Some members of a crowd gathered at the scene scream and cry out, then chant, "Shame on You," as the protesters are arrested. The officers retreat minutes later with helmets on and batons drawn.

"Yesterday was not a day that would make anyone on our campus proud," UC Davis chancellor Linda Katehi wrote in response to the pepper-spraying video.

It's not clear from the video what agency the officer who used the pepper spray represents. Officers from UC Davis and other UC campuses as well as the city of Davis responded to the protest, according to Annette Spicuzza, UC Davis police chief. Davis is about 80 miles north of San Francisco.

Spicuzza told the Sacramento Bee that police used the pepper spray after they were surrounded. Protesters were warned repeatedly beforehand that force would be used if they didn't move, she said.

"There was no way out of that circle," Spicuzza said. "They were cutting the officers off from their support. It's a very volatile situation."

The tents went up on Thursday, and protesters were warned on Friday morning that they had until 3 p.m. to take them down or they would be removed.

On Saturday Chancellor Katehi announced the formation of a task force comprised of faculty, students and staff to review the week's events and design a process to avoid such confrontations in the future.

In a letter to the UC Davis community Katehi wrote that protests on campus during the past week had been peaceful, and that some students and non-students who had erected tents on campus had agreed to remove them, as per university policy. But when several students refused to take down 25 tents, police moved in.

"The use of pepper spray as shown on the video is chilling to us all, and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this," Katehi wrote.

"While the university is trying to ensure the safety and health of all members of our community, we must ensure our strategies to gain compliance are fair and reasonable and do not lead to mistreatment."

In other "Occupy" developments:

/ Ted S. Warren/AP Photo

Seattle, Wash.: An 84-year-old woman who was pepper sprayed this week at an Occupy Seattle protest said the national attention she received can help the movement's cause. Dorli Rainey addressed a crowd of about 100 people Friday afternoon who had marched to police headquarters downtown.

Rainey was at an Occupy Seattle event Tuesday evening when police used pepper spray on the protesters. A picture of Rainey taken immediately after she was hit by the chemical irritant was published worldwide. Police say the group Rainey was in was blocking traffic and ignored orders to disperse.

Los Angeles, Calif.: Police arrested 14 Occupy UCLA protesters, all but one of them students, on campus, breaking up an encampment of 25 tents. University spokesman Steve Ritea said about 40 protesters left after police ordered the crowd to disperse at about 5:15 a.m. Friday.

In videos posted to a Facebook page for Occupy UCLA early Friday morning, protesters sang and gave impassioned speeches to the surrounding police force about income disparity and financial barriers to higher education. Those arrested were cited for failure to disperse and released. Ritea said the protests follow repeated tuition increases in recent years.

Indianapolis, Ind.: State officials have cleared most of the Occupy Indy encampment from the Indiana Statehouse lawn. Department of Administration Commissioner Rob Wynkoop said that the small band of protesters had cleared most of its camping gear on Thursday but that more items were added overnight and he ordered the site cleared before dawn Friday. Protester Greg Lambert of Indianapolis said he and others are "furious."

New York: Mayor Michael Bloomberg is arguing that several thousand protesters who marched over the Brooklyn Bridge during Thursday's "Day of Action" are not representative of Occupy Wall Street.

The protest took place amid demonstrations nationwide marking the two-month anniversary of the movement that began with Occupy Wall Street.

In his weekly WOR Radio show Friday the mayor said that "a vast percentage" of the marchers were union members who "had organized signs and leadership." Bloomberg said the protest "was just an opportunity for a bunch of unions to complain or to protest, or whatever they want to do."

Nashville, Tenn.: A group of Occupy Nashville protesters disrupted a discussion with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about his memoir, "Known and Unknown," and were ejected by security.

The group said in a press release that an anonymous donor purchased four $125-a-plate dinners that allowed protesters to enter the Thursday night event, which was sponsored by the conservative Washington think tank the Heritage Foundation at a downtown Nashville hotel. They mingled with the crowd before standing up, one by one, and accusing Rumsfeld of being a war criminal. They also suggested Rumsfeld should go outside and submit to a citizen's arrest.

Heritage spokesman Matthew Streit confirmed that four protesters caused what he called a "brief interruption" of the discussion.

Outside the hotel where Rumsfeld was appearing, Occupy protesters noticed a van with blacked-out windows marked to appear like a van from Nashville Electric Service, but a call to NES revealed it was not one of theirs. Computers screens were visible through the front window, and what appeared to be a camera was mounted on top, but the driver had disappeared into the back, leaving the engine running.

In video posted by Occupy Nashville, protesters heckled the van's occupant(s), and called the police. (It was parked illegally.) When police came to inquire, the van sped away.

Boston: The nonprofit organization that oversees the site of the Occupy Boston encampment wants the protesters out. The chairwoman of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy's board says in a Tuesday letter to Mayor Thomas Menino that demonstrators have prevented the general public from enjoying Dewey Square Park and forced the cancellation of other events scheduled for the site, including an Oct. 15 food festival.

The Boston Globe reports that Chairwoman Georgia Murray also wrote that sanitary conditions have worsened, farmers selling food in the area have seen sales decline because of "noise, odors, and interference" from demonstrators, and the camp has shown "disturbing signs of drug dealing."

Portland, Me.: Police have charged two Occupy Maine activists with assault and arrested a third on a disorderly conduct charge in two separate disturbances at an encampment at a Portland park. Police say 45-year-old Alan Porter was hit in the head with a hammer Friday morning after he started drumming to awaken the other occupants. One 34-year-old man was charged with aggravated assault, and another 34-year-old man was given a summons for assault for allegedly choking Porter.

St. Louis, Mo.: Occupy St. Louis said the 14 protesters arrested near the entrance to a Mississippi River bridge are out of jail. Police made the arrests without incident late Thursday afternoon as hundreds of protesters tried to block the entrance to the Martin Luther King Bridge.

Eugene, Ore.: As many as 300 Occupy Eugene protesters spent an afternoon demonstrating at bank offices, and 17 were arrested. Members of the group told police in advance Thursday they were planning civil disobedience, and the police told bankers they wouldn't move against the protesters unless people refused to move on when asked. The Eugene Register-Guard reported that arrests, mostly for trespassing, were made at two bank offices, Bank of America and Chase, but not at three others. One person was charged with resisting arrest. Most of the banks managed to carry on at least some customer business during the protest.

Philadelphia, Pa.: Police arrested about a dozen members of the Occupy Philadelphia movement who were protesting at a bank downtown. The protesters refused to leave the Wells Fargo branch on Friday evening and were arrested peacefully. About two dozen members of Occupy Philadelphia were arrested on Thursday during a protest on the Market Street bridge.

Austin, Texas: Police said five people have been arrested after chaining themselves to a tree and refusing to leave during an Occupy Austin protest.

[iconclastic]

Did Annette Spicuzza even watch the video???

Her comments: "The students had encircled the officers," she said Saturday. "They needed to exit. They were looking to leave but were unable to get out."

These comments could only have been made by someone who did not see the pepper-spraying office STEP OVER the line of students which had "encircled the officers: who couldn't get out? And she obviously didn't see the clear path behind many of the officers as another way out. Why didn't the other "surrounded" officers also simply step over the sitting students? I didn't see any attempt to stop the first one who did?

Or the comments were made by a person who is so disconnected from reality that she should not be in the position she is in.

[IndianaBear]

CBS: Thank you for the coverage. I would like to see more. The American people need an outspoken and strong broadcast media system. Realized power is in the press. This kind of behavior is representative of what is becoming a growing trend in our culture. A majority of Americans have not taken to the streets, but I'm placing my bet, that the majority ultimately agree with those who have. Collective awareness and understanding about the direction our culture is moving towards on this issue is paramount, and immediately necessary. The arrest of those who represent the media in the last month, speak a frightening truth, to the extent that, if the most powerful in our broadcast media system do not now scream this information from the very walls of our society, there may unfortunately come a time, when our media giants find themselves additionally silenced. I have a specific request. Complete understanding, or should I say comprehension of how the very foundations and nature of our constitutional rights, have thus evolved in the last three to four decades to become two-tier really frames how and what our culture has become. I would like to hear Glenn Greenwald please, and others who have the ability to articulate to the laymen. Additionally, unleash the voices of our best economists. Now. Our media giants have a responsibility, to bring us the voices that best articulate how democracy in our beautiful country has changed, what the consequences are, and what the direction of our future really entails, from the best minds in our society.

[iconclastic]

In this and other police actions against the OWS groups in numerous cities, comments seem to indicate that local police officers or local "powers that be" are directing the systematic attacks against the protestors.

It is my belief that many of the instigators and most of the coordination of the tactics and strategies to "control" the movement are being directed at the national level as part of a national police force. By wearing local uniforms (or uniforms that would pass as local) federal police can direct the local activities under the guise of local enforcement. They are supplying the extra manpower, weapons, uniforms, etc. for the local actions and are using these confrontations to train and indoctrinate the local police toward a common mindset for the control of the malcontents in society that are trying to expose the lies perpetrated by the hidden power structure.

Sadly, so far, they seem to be winning. Hopefully, by being more extreme and more blatant in their efforts to subdue constitutionally protected speech, they will expose themselves more than the protesters could. However, the fact that they believe they can be so overt is a signal that they believe they have enough power in place that no one can stop them.

[euge005]

Time for the feds to clamp down on this police violence and arrest the pigs involved. This is not Syria and we cannot have the pea brains at a local level playing God with the rights of our people to protest peacefully. This movement may bring down the gov here like the people did in Egypt. Good for them.

[Kwarrant]

There better begin to be accountability in these police forces before all L/E officers become victims- just as us students have.

[auntbkaraoke]

I thought I was looking at something from the MidEast not America. This is absolutely horrific!!!

[rs108]

Nope not the mid east....they use DEADLY force there. Bullets not pepper spray

[fiberglass3]

So who is instructing these cops to break the law?

The United States constitution explicitly provides for 'the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances'" in the First Amendment. This is recognized as a human right, a political freedom and a civil liberty.

[fiberglass3]

Flyswatter1 - I agree however we don't have many "Village Squares" left to offer them. Even on public land there is an effort to disperse them.

[borysd]

University of California is a public institution...not private property.

[Harden_Tar]

Once the po-lice have issued the disperse or be physically removed, they are off the hook since the protesters are now law breakers. The fact there were several protests in the week that were resolved peacefully tells me the kids were kicking it up a notch to provoke just this type of incident. By the way UC Davis is an agricultural school. (Aggies) it is not 80 miles north of San Francisco, rather east. Trying to connect UC Davis and San Francisco is a stretch. It is only 10 miles west of Sacramento, smack dab in the middle of farm country and not a city school by any means.

[Pendraig71]

Very correct ... interest is waning they need a media catching confrontation to maintain momentum

[Ganon1]

False. It is a violation of California Law to use pepper spray to disperse people who are not threatening officers.

The court has ruled that not only is it illegal, the officers themselves can be sued as individuals for using pepper spray in this way.

[gruven13777]

UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said officers used force out of concern for their own safety after they were surrounded by students.
--------------

Yeah. The cops were in full riot gear with weapons, surrounded by unarmed students in tee shirts, who were sitting on the ground with their heads down.

Wow, what a safety threat.

[Pendraig71]

You must be a dashingly brilliant theorist on crowd control and law enforcement strategy. It was textbook the law enforcement response and the protestors exploited it.

[mollyjb]

The students were peacefully sitting and not threatening anyone by any imagination. The police were WAY out of line to pepper spray the students. If they were rioting that would be a reason to pepper spray them but they were just passively sitting there! The police officer who sprayed them should be FIRED!

[Pendraig71]

While the demonstration of dissatisfaction with the corporate greed and incestuous relationship with politicians is a laudable cause. The retro throwback to the 60s style of "nonviolent, in your face" protests are doomed to fail. The lack of a crystallized message and proposed solution shows the immaturity of this poor cliche playing out on the media between small groups of disgruntled, misguided wanna-be social revolutionaries and local enforcement. If anything the short attention span public is moving on. If they had been disciplined and articulate it may have actually generated a ground swell of support that may have actually garnered some political redress. Sadly after watching the foreign media and its 'comical' discourse on covering the OWS movement it is apparent that this too will fade from the proverbial 15 minutes of media hype. Only short of a military coup or a "bonus Army" style confrontation are we going to see anything change the status quo. Between the omnipotent federal powers of the patriot act and the lazy disinterested and disenfranchised public at large just sit back hid your wages in your matress and pray for a quick descent in to a full blown economic depression. Hopefully in that turmoil which is bound to precipitate the notions of personal responsibility, civic virtue and fiscal realism will sink in. Both parties are wrong, both are in bed with the large multinational conglomerates... maybe and just maybe constitutional reform will occur breaking the hold of the lobbyists and returning the power of the electorate to a proper balance. Also if all pundits and demagogues would end up at the bottom of the Atlantic it would be a much better world.