Occupy Wall Street

[Apathy]

is this side of things getting much coverage on US news channels? Has the government had anything to say about these brutal police methods?

 

[TopCat]

I haven't seen any of the politicians on the TV today yet. The potential for tripping up overthemselves is huge. Egypt, USA, UK, which protesters do you support?

 

[TomUS]

is this side of things getting much coverage on US news channels? Has the government had anything to say about these brutal police methods?

Some of the mainstream media is covering it but usually treats it as an exciting story & is usually sympathetic to police actions.

The Federal and local governments have made virtually no criticism of the police. The protesters, virtually all of whom are peaceful as little lambs, are portrayed as dangerous mobs that must be crushed.

 

[xes]

Well the police are doing a rather good job of radicalising people at the point of a baton.

may the anger grow and grow, and blow up in their pig cunt fucking faces.

 

[claphamboy]

I've heard about pepper spray, but wasn't that informed about it, so I looked on wikipedia...

Pepper spray is banned for use in war by Article I.5 of the Chemical Weapons Convention which bans the use of all riot control agents in warfare whether lethal or less-than-lethal.

FFS, it's banned for use in war, but it's OK to use at home against your own citizens having a peaceful protest.

How fucked-up is that?

 

[TomUS]

I've heard about pepper spray, but wasn't that informed about it, so I looked on wikipedia...

FFS, it's banned for use in war, but it's OK to use at home against your own citizens having a peaceful protest.

How fucked-up is that?

Here's the girl in Portland describing the experience of pepper spray.

 

[claphamboy]

That video is so depressing, it makes me want to cry.

 

[claphamboy]

That's a very good article, linked from there was this clip of the University's Chancellor, who had sent the police in, walking from her office to her car - the route lined by what looks like hundreds of students in a silence protest, she doesn't look very comfortable.

I've just played this to the better half, her response was, "talk about the walk of shame, surely she can't survive this?".

I am inclined to agree, surely she will have to resign now?

 

[teqniq]

This , for me highlights an age-old problem that it would seem that a significant percentage of people that wish to be police officers should in no way be let anywhere near the job. Doubtless though the sort of mentality that uses pepper spray indiscriminately is fine by the powers that be, which means that a significant percentage of them should not be let anywhere near positions of power. Someone (I forget who) once said to paraphrase, that power should be entrusted to people who least want to wield it.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I've just played this to the better half, her response was, "talk about the walk of shame, surely she can't survive this?".

I am inclined to agree, surely she will have to resign now?

The BBC article up at the moment paints her in a much more sympathetic light than most of the coverage coming out of the US:

Linda Katehi, Chancellor of the University of California, Davis, near Sacramento, says she is forming a task force to investigate what happened.


"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," she said in a message on the university's website.

 

[claphamboy]

The BBC article up at the moment paints her in a much more sympathetic light than most of the coverage coming out of the US:

Looks like a desperate attempt to save her own arse TBH.

She knew about the violence the cops used on the Berkeley campus, yet called them in to remove about 20 tents from a fuck-off big green area, on the basis of 'health & safety'.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

A good point was made on the UC Davis Facebook page, that using pepper spray to move protestors doesn't make any sense as it is designed to incapacitate - the police were setting them up to be charged with resisting.

 

[claphamboy]

When it comes to resisting arrest, the funny thing is that the cops ended-up resisting making more arrests, because they were 'forced' to back off & to run away.

 

[xes]

know i have said it before, but I fear another Kent State

https://www.facebook.com/UCDavis

btw, thousands of critical comments on UCD's FB page...

it really is only a matter of time, to be honest.

 

[Barking_Mad]

the BBC video is cropped quite a lot.

 

[elbows]

Not sure if its genuine but pay details for the pepperspray cop have shown up, earnt $116k last year.

http://thejeffreytaylor.tumblr.com/post/13078408531/the-cop-who-pepper-sprayed-those-kids-with

 

[claphamboy]

Not sure if its genuine but pay details for the pepperspray cop have shown up, earnt $116k last year.

http://thejeffreytaylor.tumblr.com/post/13078408531/the-cop-who-pepper-sprayed-those-kids-with

Why would his 'total pay' be less than his 'base pay'?

 

[Treacle Toes]

I've just played this to the better half, her response was, "talk about the walk of shame, surely she can't survive this?".

Well done those students! That was very powerful.

 

[audiotech]

 

[Buddy Bradley]

BBC says they've been suspended now. Also says it was campus police, not the actual police.

 

[Garek]

Well done those students! That was very powerful.

Bollocks, It was stupid and part of the fetishisation of peaceful protest.

It may make for dramatic footage but in the long term what will it actually achieve? People need to start fighting back not sitting passively getting fucked over by the police.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Bollocks, It was stupid and part of the fetishisation of peaceful protest.

It may make for dramatic footage but in the long term what will it actually achieve? People need to start fighting back not sitting passively getting fucked over by the police.

We all know what happens when you fight back against a heavily tooled up state machine.

 

[Garek]

We all know what happens when you fight back against a heavily tooled up state machine.

Yes we do. Sometimes we win.

 

[teqniq]

Yes we do. Sometimes we win.

Not often enough. And frankly they really don't know how to deal with the passive protest thing, they are making themselves look like the fools/thugs they are. What with the rise of 'everyone's a reporter' due to the internet and mobile tech it is much more difficult to hide their actions, witness all the postings of Youtube stuff on here. There may very well come a time when passive resistance is no longer enough, but I suspect that if and when that time comes it will be very obvious.

 

[Garek]

Not often enough. And frankly they really don't know how to deal with the passive protest thing, they are making themselves look like the fools/thugs they are. What with the rise of 'everyone's a reporter' due to the internet and mobile tech it is much more difficult to hide their actions, witness all the postings of Youtube stuff on here. There may very well come a time when passive resistance is no longer enough, but I suspect that if and when that time comes it will be very obvious.

And that is changing the police response how? They don't exactly seem to be becoming shrinking violets because their actions are now broadcast.

We all know they are thugs. We all know they are violent. We've known that for a lot longer than the time youtube has been around. This changes nothing.

 

[teqniq]

@ Garek you are being slightly disingenuous here. Their response if the protests were violent initially would make what's going on now look like a stroll in the park. See post #982. Also it's been reported that some officer(s) have been suspended as a consequence of their actions re: use of pepper spray, something that would have been a great deal harder to prove without the presence of plenty of people with cameraphones etc.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

And that is changing the police response how? They don't exactly seem to be becoming shrinking violets because their actions are now broadcast.

We all know they are thugs. We all know they are violent. We've known that for a lot longer than the time youtube has been around. This changes nothing.

The definition of 'we' matters a lot in that assertion. The vast majority of punters don't know anything of the sort. Even after Robocop and the Ian Tomlinson incidents a hell of a lot of ordinary people still uncritically buy into the police='good', protesters='violent scum' line pushed by the Met and their partners in corruption within the tabloid press, but due to the footage in question, not quite as many uncritically believe it as before the G20 protests.

One imagines that a similar situation exists in the US.

 

[Garek]

@ Garek you are being slightly disingenuous here. Their response if the protests were violent initially would make what's going on now look like a stroll in the park. See post #982. Also it's been reported that some officer(s) have been suspended as a consequence of their actions re: use of pepper spray, something that would have been a great deal harder to prove without the presence of plenty of people with cameraphones etc.

Officers have been suspended before. And yet the violence continues. Funny that.

As for 'initially violent' I don't believe being violent right from the start is the answer. What I do not understand is remaining passive in the face of violence. At some point you have to defend yourself and those around you.

 

[turing test]

It is great footage.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

BBC says they've been suspended now. Also says it was campus police, not the actual police.

Campus police usually are "actual" police. They're usually trained at the same academy as the State Police and have the same powers. (At least they were at the shop I worked in).