UC Pepper Spraying: A Violation Of Us All

Pretty well everyone has seen, or at least heard about, the video of the pepper spraying incident, at the University of California, last Friday. As usual, the incident was not quite as one-sided as some think. Students had been asked to take down their tents and vacate but refused. They  linked arms and sat down in defiance of the order. That is a form of escalation of confrontation.  Campus police then escalated it further with pepper spray. (For those who have not yet seen the video, it is provided here courtesy of YouTube.)

I am willing to bet that this video is the first exposure many have had to what it looks like when pepper spray is being used. It seems overly aggressive, especially when those being sprayed are not being aggressive; and that is the fundamental issue right there.

The students were wrong to refuse to obey the order to remove tents and to disperse.  The police, however, were even more wrong to respond the way they did. Pepper spray is non-lethal weapon to subdue someone who is acting aggressively. There was no aggression by the students and the use of pepper spray on protesters for civil disobedience rather than simply arresting them is inexcusable.

In a democracy, citizens have the right to protest, it’s a simple as that. It is sometimes inconvenient and annoying for others not involved in the protest but that’s part of the price of living in a free society. Rights are difficult to manage though and there is a fine balance required between one person’s rights and another’s.

The right to freedom of speech is a very fundamental right but even it has limitations which have been placed on it to protect the rights of others from hate speech, threats and slander.  It’s the same with the right to freedom of assembly and the right to own firearms in those countries where it is legal. Every right has some reasonable limitation to prevent misuse of it to deny others their equivalent rights.

It is government, the courts and law enforcement who are supposed to ensure that our rights are protected accordingly. Law enforcement failed on Friday at the University of California.

Even if the student protesters had escalated the situation to civil disobedience, the response by campus police was too extreme and uncalled for. Simple arrests and/or citations would have been sufficient. Not one student showed aggression towards police and the police had no reason to respond with physical aggression against the students.

I tend to support the police in their approach to dealing the Occupy movement because it is a very difficult situation for them that sees them facing huge crowds that could erupt into violent riot without notice. For the most part, police across North America should be commended for their professional and measured response to most situations but not in this case.

If the students were violating an order to disperse, it was a peaceful civil disobedience. There are appropriate responses for that including arrest but the police had no reason to respond as if students were rioting.

I have been justifiably angry with Occupy for its careless disregard of the rights and property of others. I have criticized the movement for its use of violence and confrontation because every citizen has a duty to live within the law. I hold law enforcement to an even higher standard. What UC campus police did was wrong and it is a violation of the very thing we entrust them to uphold. They represent us and it is outrageous that they represented us so badly.

It doesn't matter which side of the Occupy issue anyone is on. What UC campus police did was a violation of us all.

Note: The video in this post is provided from YouTube.com

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