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New Video of Police Brutality at Occupy OaklandI wonder what the police in some places would be doing if they weren't being video taped.
We know how bad most city cops are but wtf at campus police being allowed to make a decision to pepper spray people sitting down. They should stick to campus parking and underage drinking.
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Radley Balko has written extensively about the militarization of police forces. When you start arresting people for non-violent victimless crimes, you necessarily have to escalate the police tactics, because there is nobody to turn them in, so you have to go looking for crimes. This has turned police forces into armed raiders, and the people who want to do that for a living are the people who beat people for standing in the wrong place.

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New Video of Police Brutality at Occupy OaklandI wonder what the police in some places would be doing if they weren't being video taped.
We know how bad most city cops are but wtf at campus police being allowed to make a decision to pepper spray people sitting down. They should stick to campus parking and underage drinking.
He deserved what he got, and should have been arrested. Normal people don't disobey police orders. Especially when the orders are "please leave".
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Are you for real?
JLL, I don't tolerate stupid people very well. He was actively disobeying police orders, and at that point, I would fully expect my body to start receiving pain.
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JLL, I don't tolerate stupid people very well. He was actively disobeying police orders, and at that point, I would fully expect my body to start receiving pain.
The students were peacefully sitting on their own campus, in an organized protest. The stupidity that shouldn't be tolerated is the part where the University's Chancellor ordered campus police (in riot gear) to disperse them, and the part where violence was used to achieve that goal. The students were literally just sitting on their own campus, with arms linked. Call in the National Guard!
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JLL, I don't tolerate stupid people very well. He was actively disobeying police orders, and at that point, I would fully expect my body to start receiving pain.
That's retarded. One, they clearly expected the pain, you can see them trying to shield their eyes and mouths from the spray, but expecting that it may happen doesn't make it even remotely right. Two, the police do not have the right to dispense pain at their discretion or for being ignored. Three, they were not breaking any laws as I understand it, other than disorderly conduct, which is bullshit as the disorder stops when the bullshit police orders stop. There is no way that was justifiable. There is a RIGHT to protest, assemble, petition the government, and speak freely in your country. And while it doesn't appear on the video I saw, and I don't know if it's actually true, I read that the police were pinning the kids to the ground, forcing their mouths open, and spraying the gas down their throats to the point of the some of the kids to be coughing up blood and needing to be hospitalized. It is not the job of the police to dispense justice or punishment but that is clearly what is happening here, and if you're supporting that behaviour, you're WAY in the wrong.If you don't tolerate stupid people, start focusing on the officer, the chancellor, and if you find no fault there, check a mirror.
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New Video of Police Brutality at Occupy OaklandI wonder what the police in some places would be doing if they weren't being video taped.
We know how bad most city cops are but wtf at campus police being allowed to make a decision to pepper spray people sitting down. They should stick to campus parking and underage drinking.
http://news.yahoo.com/officers-pepper-spra...-182151195.html
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Dear occupy children,A protest is only successful if and when the police turn violent.If you don't want to bring attention to your cause while getting a total pass on all your illegalities, then do not ignore cops when they tell you to move.BGP.S. Every cop there has had pepper spray in their face also, they all lived. It's a non-violent use of force. They used to use high pressure water hoses that broke bones, if they didn't just billy club you.

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If you don't want to bring attention to your cause while getting a total pass on all your illegalities, then do not ignore cops when they tell you to move.
If you don't not want us to misunderstand you, then do not ignore the the possibility of multiple negatives.This means the protesters really got what they wanted, right?
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If you don't not want us to misunderstand you, then do not ignore the the possibility of multiple negatives.This means the protesters really got what they wanted, right?
No, it means if you want to be real protesters, you have to get pepper sprayed.Which of course means you cannot whine about it, because with out police 'brutality' you are just kids camping out waiting for mom.So the police should be thanked by the occupiers, they were getting dangerously close to becoming ignored by everyone.This will extend their fifteen minutes a little.But just a little.
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No, it means if you want to be real protesters, you have to get pepper sprayed.Which of course means you cannot whine about it, because with out police 'brutality' you are just kids camping out waiting for mom.So the police should be thanked by the occupiers, they were getting dangerously close to becoming ignored by everyone.This will extend their fifteen minutes a little.But just a little.
So, they might not have wanted it, but they should want it, because it furthers their cause. Is that it?
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That's retarded. One, they clearly expected the pain, you can see them trying to shield their eyes and mouths from the spray, but expecting that it may happen doesn't make it even remotely right. Two, the police do not have the right to dispense pain at their discretion or for being ignored. Three, they were not breaking any laws as I understand it, other than disorderly conduct, which is bullshit as the disorder stops when the bullshit police orders stop. There is no way that was justifiable. There is a RIGHT to protest, assemble, petition the government, and speak freely in your country. And while it doesn't appear on the video I saw, and I don't know if it's actually true, I read that the police were pinning the kids to the ground, forcing their mouths open, and spraying the gas down their throats to the point of the some of the kids to be coughing up blood and needing to be hospitalized. It is not the job of the police to dispense justice or punishment but that is clearly what is happening here, and if you're supporting that behaviour, you're WAY in the wrong.If you don't tolerate stupid people, start focusing on the officer, the chancellor, and if you find no fault there, check a mirror.
1. It's totally irrelevant if it's right or not. If I disobeyed the cops I would fully expect it. 2. Really? The police don't have the right to dispense pain to someone not obeying orders? Are you sure you want to stand on that thought?3. I don't know the situation and it's not important. Obey. The cops leave. Come back.4. I didn't read the link and I have no idea about the particular situation, so i have no idea why they were being cleared. If the president of the univsity ordered the clearing, then he was stupid. If you just let the 10 people camp in a little spot all winter, that's a win for you. Kicking them out, just brings attention. Howver, since they were ordered to leave, don't dance around in front of the cops and taunt them, or you will be arrested aggressively.
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1. It's totally irrelevant if it's right or not. If I disobeyed the cops I would fully expect it. 2. Really? The police don't have the right to dispense pain to someone not obeying orders? Are you sure you want to stand on that thought?3. I don't know the situation and it's not important. Obey. The cops leave. Come back.4. I didn't read the link and I have no idea about the particular situation, so i have no idea why they were being cleared. If the president of the univsity ordered the clearing, then he was stupid. If you just let the 10 people camp in a little spot all winter, that's a win for you. Kicking them out, just brings attention. Howver, since they were ordered to leave, don't dance around in front of the cops and taunt them, or you will be arrested aggressively.
You are scaring me, just like any other time this has come up. Cops do not have the right to inflict unnecessary pain on whomever they feel like ordering to do anything, regardless of legality. They simply don't, and we should all be thankful, because it would be crazy and stupid for us to allow the type of person who seeks out a career as a police offer carte blanche to cause injury at his/her own discretion.This is by far the stupidest position that you continue to argue.
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2. Really? The police don't have the right to dispense pain to someone not obeying orders? Are you sure you want to stand on that thought?
You're misrepresenting the assertion. The police have the right to do painful things to people when pain is a side-effect of performing their duties. Their duties do not include punishing people for crimes by inflicting pain.
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Cops clearly have the right to arrest people who are breaking the law. They do not get to arrest people who are disobeying an order that does not involve breaking the law. For example, they can't order you to stop filming them and arrest you for it -- they will lose in court and probably have to pay a settlement.And in either case, they may not use unnecessary force. If someone is sitting peacefully, you may not beat or Taser or pepper spray them. That's why passive resistance is such a good tactic -- it generates sympathy for the protesters when the cops inevitably forget that they are our servants and instead start acting like alcoholic parents with a bad temper.

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It seems that being antagonized by the police does indeed galvanize one's supporters and makes the public more aware of one's issues. At the same time, and I think this is happening with OWS to an extent, it also serves as a distraction. OWS isn't a movement against the police, and so framing it as a debate between protesters and cops misses the point. I don't think bankers mind seeing the protesters clash with cops from their high office windows.And it's crazy to say that cops have the right to use violent force when they are disobeyed (yes, pepper spray is violent in the sense that it inflicts pain). Police have (or should have) well defined protocols when they are allowed to inflict pain, and breaking up a sit-in on a college campus shouldn't be one of those events (which should be obvious to anyone who was around in the 70's.... [not me]). The main point is that "disobeying a cop's orders" doesn't imply that one is breaking the law. Cops say and do a lot of things, often to make themselves feel more powerful, and they shouldn't have the legal ability to inflict violence in all situations where they are disobeyed. It's of course clear that I'm still implying that cops should be able to use violence, right? I'm not going to bother listing the types of incidents where it's very appropriate for a cop to inflict pain. But a person sitting down, not fleeing the scene, and not harming anyone else isn't one of those incidents. If you want to arrest the person, just do it.

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i am not going to argue in support of police going off on college kids without reasonable cause, that being said why don't the profesional protestors have to follow the same laws as everyone else? how can they set up shanty towns in a public parks and be allowed to stay there? all in all the protest is silly, not going anywhere and a basic waste of everybodies time and certainly a waste of money! God i hate wasting money.

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OWS isn't a movement against the police, and so framing it as a debate between protesters and cops misses the point. I don't think bankers mind seeing the protesters clash with cops from their high office windows.
This is correct.But it is a flaw of the whole movement, they are putting effort into things that have no chance of making any difference. Its like they just want to sit around the country club in 30 years bragging about how they were a young radical too, like the hippies of the 60s do now.The circle of life
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i am not going to argue in support of police going off on college kids without reasonable cause, that being said why don't the profesional protestors have to follow the same laws as everyone else? how can they set up shanty towns in a public parks and be allowed to stay there? all in all the protest is silly, not going anywhere and a basic waste of everybodies time and certainly a waste of money! God i hate wasting money.
In Canada, the protests were broken up because the protestors were breaking certain by-laws - specifically, you are not allowed to camp on public lands (without a permit), and you are not allowed to be on public lands at certain times (between 2am-5am).So they sent in the police to take down the tents. That's all. Now, not surprisingly, some protestors prevented the police from taking the tents, and ended up getting arrested (without unreasonable force) due to preventing the police from acting upon a lawful order.
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saw a video a lot like that on redtube a little earlier
Haha What's redtube?I'd feel a lot better about allowing police officers to inflict pain if there weren't so many police officers who were meatheads. But it seems like people arguing against pain are always adding on the "unnecessary" qualifier. Who gets to decide what is necessary?
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Haha What's redtube?I'd feel a lot better about allowing police officers to inflict pain if there weren't so many police officers who were meatheads. But it seems like people arguing against pain are always adding on the "unnecessary" qualifier. Who gets to decide what is necessary?
School officials
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School officials
And I'm sure she (the UC Davis Chancellor) is totally happy with the outcome she got. It's national news that she ordered police to break up a peaceful sit-in by students on her own campus, and she's undoubtedly going to lose her job, and has already been nationally shamed for giving the order to break them up. She and the police were in the wrong here. It's that simple.And you were totally correct that it's "good" for the protesters in the sense that it brought them national attention. I don't know how many of them enjoyed the pepper spraying (probably: none of them), but yes it's a clear win for them because they look good and peaceful, and the people they were protesting against (school officials, and the 81% tuition hike they're instituting) look awful. Two officers who used pepper spray have been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation.The Chancellor (Linda Katehi) was given a large-scale silent treatment by her students after holding a meeting/press conference. It's pretty impressive:
Skip to 1:45 to see her walk of shame.
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