Increased Police Violence in OWS protests

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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With the "Pepper Spraying Cop" having recently elevated itself to a legitimate meme i thought this might have been relative online discussion worth talking about. Some in chat have been asking what actually happened to Officer Pike, the policeman responsible for spraying the students at Davis, University of California.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...-crackdown-occupy?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

Not sure what else to add really, this is all really shocking information, you can read it for yourself right there. Regardless of whether OWS is right or wrong (and less of an effort to necrobump an already closed topic here by talking about OWS issues), how are other people finding following the police crack down on protests?

Police purposefully targeting, arresting, attacking and removing journalists from the scene of protests prior and during the removal of protesters is mighty questionable activity.

meme: http://peppersprayingcop.tumblr.com/

Fox News fobs off pepper sprey as a "food product" (and we all know FN's stance on the protesters), whilst one of the creators of pepper spray, Kamran Loghman, defines it as a "Weapons grade chemical agent" in his interview with the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/u...rom-crowd-control-to-mocking-images.html?_r=1
 
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Fruity Snacks

Creator of blackholes & memes. Destroyer of forums
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Sep 5, 2010
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Must you use a facebook link :p


And, just from what I'm hearing/seeing, there is a lot of camps that are being "attacked" by police.

I don't know why, since these types of protests are technically U.S Contitutional (as in, human right to do this)... BUT I think what is happening is that they are starting to effect the area they are occupying (that is, they are effecting businesses, hygiene and general public sanitation/safety - ontop of people getting annoyed with them- so the cities are now doing something.... Occupy Oakland is a good example of this).
 

grazr

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Woops, guess i pasted the wrong link, i updated the URL in the OP to go straight to the source rather than through the FB app.

Issues with hygiene might be applicable but these sorts of things were happening from day 1 when police began kettling (which is illegal) protestors. Police say they were responding to protestors entering the roads and blocking traffic, but this only happened after they blocked off the sidewalks and the influx of additional protesters forced the initial ones to escape into the roads to avoid being crushed.
 

nik

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Aug 14, 2009
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Occupy Toronto ended with pretty much nothing happening, the police dealt with it extremely well. Then we all went out for Tim's.
 

PoisonHeadcrab

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Jun 27, 2010
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Quite honestly, from what I've seen of it from videos, it rather looks like many of the protesters just try to provoke the police with violence/naughtiness and then get what they asked for. Imo, they're all just a bunch of jealous people "protesting" against those who've made it far anyways (No offense), but I guess that's just my point of view :p
 

Wilson

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May 4, 2010
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Quite honestly, from what I've seen of it from videos, it rather looks like many of the protesters just try to provoke the police with violence/naughtiness and then get what they asked for. Imo, they're all just a bunch of jealous people "protesting" against those who've made it far anyways (No offense), but I guess that's just my point of view :p

This is going to sound very harsh but....

Shut up.
 

grazr

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Quite honestly, from what I've seen of it from videos, it rather looks like many of the protesters just try to provoke the police with violence/naughtiness and then get what they asked for. Imo, they're all just a bunch of jealous people "protesting" against those who've made it far anyways (No offense), but I guess that's just my point of view :p

Have you even read anything besides Fox News articles? You do realise the pepper spray incident happened to passive protesters, sitting cross legged on the floor in a non-threatening manner. How is that provoking law enforcement to the point of utilising military weapons including but not limited to chemical weapons, non-leathal munitions (rubber bullets) and ultra sonic guns? The protesters were so non-threatening the police officer looks like he was casually watering some flowers rather than combating "aggressive" protesters. That's the reason for the meme.

Pepper spray (OC gas) is used in war zones and USW's are used as a means of torture and they're both being used on peaceful protesters.
 
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PoisonHeadcrab

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Jun 27, 2010
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Have you even read anything besides Fox News articles? You do realise the pepper spray incident happened to passive protesters, sitting cross legged on the floor in a non-threatening manner. How is that provoking law enforcement to the point of utilising military weapons including but not limited to chemical weapons, non-leathal munitions (rubber bullets) and ultra sonic guns? The protesters were so non-threatening the police officer looks like he was casually watering some flowers rather than combating "aggressive" protesters. That's the reason for the meme.

Pepper spray (OC gas) is used in war zones and USW's are used as a means of torture and they're both being used on peaceful protesters.

I certainly wouldn't deny individual cases, where police could have indeed acted with unjustifiable violence, I was simply talking about the general look of it, that I got from some dozen of these protest videos or so...



And even though I knew something like this was coming...
This is going to sound very harsh but....

Shut up.
...you don't need to tell me to "shut up", I'm just expressing my opinion. :/
 
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grazr

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Which videos are these, then? I havn't actually seen any and that's also baring in mind that the American Right-Wing have injected (traced) millions of USD into the media to fuel a smear campaign against OWS. Evidence of misconduct by protesters has been flimsy at best.

It's interesting to watch this from the UK where our media is less affected by media tycoons such as Rupert Murdoch (38th richest man in the US), who has his hands in most of the US media networks. He's already had 2 papers over here shut down for illegal activity and The Gaurdian refused to be bought out by said media tycoon so i have a fair amount of respect for their integrity as journalists.

Post them up, i'd very much like to see these so called violent protests.
 
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Da_Man

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Aug 23, 2009
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I agree with the whole OWS message, but I think the way they are doing it is not the best way to do so. Thought now that I'm thinking about it, I can't think of another way to do it.

I just don't know anymore. Fuck politics.
 

grazr

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Well that's the age old dilemma of protests, isn't it. If you don't make at least a moderate impact then you just get conviniently ignored.

But as many of the alternative news sources have stated, the "states" over reaction to otherwise harmless protests has given them a very powerful tool to continue the fight, which in an ironic sense is exactly what was best for them. Like creating a martyr, although the person holding an idea died, his message is effectively immortalised.

Of course having the numbers has helped. I can't honestly say there's been a more significant movement that wasn't essentially a civil war.

The Young Turks (TYT) reports protestors chanting "Raises for police" and "you are the 99%" in support of law enforcement despite their physical opposition to the protests.

But that police officer makes a good point. Those people are giving up their freedom to protect other peoples freedom. They're creating a powerful message by making a sacrifice. The officer states you cannot beat the police, but you don't need to. That's an intelligent distinction many "classical" protestors fail to realise before it becomes merely a standoff and show of force.
 
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Sel

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Feb 18, 2009
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This is disturbing though. This is why I hate politics, and don't want to have to deal with it.

This was the attitude I held up until relatively recently, around the time we re-elected our conservative party to government, immediately after they had been found in contempt of parliament, with a majority government, and more power than they had before.

Now we're pretty much open for big business to fuck the country in any way they want to make a buck (XL Pipeline), we're building mega prisons despite the fact our crime rate is at an all time low, and anyone who has ever looked at the usa knows it will backfire terribly. They're trying to push internet surveillance legislation through. All the while we have our Occupy protestors getting evicted left right and center, where our Charter of Rights and Freedoms is being ignored entirely, and being overridden by a FUCKING CITY BY LAW.

It's become incredibly obvious to me that these people clearly do not have my country's or my best interests in their agenda, and that's upsetting enough to make me pay attention.
 
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Micnax

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On a slightly lighter note:

occupy-wall-st-everywhere.jpg
 

Terwonick

L6: Sharp Member
Aug 25, 2010
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LIke always you guys are using the exceptions, not the rules. I agree, those police people are going out of their way to be "bad" (for lack of a better word), but just because 10 people are bad doesn't mean they all are. The occupy protesters have been warned that action would be taken to remove them if they did not remove themselves. Like I said before though, I do not agree with the actions taken!!! Just use fire-hoses, they clear out people well enough, and they are extremely "non-lethal"
 
Sep 1, 2009
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Will they use Pepper spray on the Teachers that walk out on Wendsday the 30th ? Highly doubt it. Brings up some questions, discussions and answers.
 

Fruity Snacks

Creator of blackholes & memes. Destroyer of forums
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Just use fire-hoses, they clear out people well enough, and they are extremely "non-lethal"

Actually, they can be very lethal and very harmful.



As a note guys, reminder to be respectful to peoples views and opinions. Be mature and considerate of others, and the thread will remain open. (Also, report button is on the left if you feel someone is being disrespectful)