Pepper spray police put on leave.
- 12 years ago
ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION
Two University of California, Davis police officers have been placed on administrative leave while the school investigates the apparent use of pepper spray, by campus police, against seated student protesters, the university said on Sunday (November 20).
Video footage of a policeman in riot gear using pepper spray on a group of roughly a dozen student protesters at close range in the university's central commons area posted on YouTube spread quickly over the Internet, sparking outrage among some faculty members.
The officers will be paid while on leave, university spokeswoman Claudia Morain said. She did not identify them.
Student protesters at Davis had set up an encampment in the university's "quad" commons earlier this month as part of the nationwide Occupy demonstrations against economic inequality and excesses of the global financial system.
Their demonstrations, endorsed by a faculty association, included protests against tuition increases and what they viewed as police brutality on University of California campuses in response to recent protests.
The students had set up about 25 tents in the quad area, but they had been asked not to stay overnight and were told they would not be able to stay during the weekend due to a lack of university resources, UC Davis Chancellor Linda
P.B. Katehi said.
Some protesters took their tents down voluntarily while others stayed. The pepper spray incident appeared to take place Friday afternoon, when campus police moved in forcibly to evict the protesters.
Two University of California, Davis police officers have been placed on administrative leave while the school investigates the apparent use of pepper spray, by campus police, against seated student protesters, the university said on Sunday (November 20).
Video footage of a policeman in riot gear using pepper spray on a group of roughly a dozen student protesters at close range in the university's central commons area posted on YouTube spread quickly over the Internet, sparking outrage among some faculty members.
The officers will be paid while on leave, university spokeswoman Claudia Morain said. She did not identify them.
Student protesters at Davis had set up an encampment in the university's "quad" commons earlier this month as part of the nationwide Occupy demonstrations against economic inequality and excesses of the global financial system.
Their demonstrations, endorsed by a faculty association, included protests against tuition increases and what they viewed as police brutality on University of California campuses in response to recent protests.
The students had set up about 25 tents in the quad area, but they had been asked not to stay overnight and were told they would not be able to stay during the weekend due to a lack of university resources, UC Davis Chancellor Linda
P.B. Katehi said.
Some protesters took their tents down voluntarily while others stayed. The pepper spray incident appeared to take place Friday afternoon, when campus police moved in forcibly to evict the protesters.