Pepper spray cops placed on leave
Source: Agencies |
November 22, 2011, Tuesday
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THE president of the University of California system in the United States said he was "appalled" at images of protesters being doused with pepper spray and plans an assessment of law enforcement procedures on all 10 campuses, as two police officers were placed on administrative leave in the incident.
"Free speech is part of the DNA of this university, and non-violent protest has long been central to our history," UC President Mark G Yudof said on Sunday in response to the spraying of students sitting passively at UC Davis. "It is a value we must protect with vigilance."
Yudof said in a statement it was not his intention to "micromanage our campus police forces," but said all 10 chancellors would convene soon for a discussion "about how to ensure proportional law enforcement response to non-violent protest."
Protesters from Occupy Sacramento planned to travel to nearby Davis yesterday for a noon rally in solidarity with the students, the group said in a statement.
UC Davis officials refused to identify the two officers who were place on administrative leave but one was a veteran of many years on the force and the other "fairly new" to the department, the school's Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said.
Videos posted online of the incident clearly show one riot-gear clad officer dousing the line of protesters with spray as they sit with their arms intertwined. Spicuzza said that the second officer was identified during an intense review of several videos.
"We really wanted to be diligent in our research, and during our viewing of multiple videos we discovered the second officer," Spicuzza said.
Meanwhile, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said she has been inundated with reaction from alumni, students and faculty and would speed up an investigation that was to have taken three months.
"I spoke with students this weekend and I feel their outrage," Katehi said in a statement on Sunday.
Katehi also set a 30-day deadline for her school's task force investigating the incident to issue its report. The task force, comprised of students, staff and faculty, will be chosen this week. She earlier had set a 90-day timetable.
The UC Davis faculty association called for Katehi's resignation, saying in a Saturday letter there had been a "gross failure of leadership."
The protest on Friday was held in support of the overall Occupy Wall Street movement and in solidarity with protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, who were jabbed by police with batons on November 9.
Nine students hit by pepper spray were treated at the scene, two were taken to hospitals and later released, university officials said.
Meanwhile on Sunday, police in San Francisco, about 100 kilometers south of Davis, arrested six anti-Wall Street protesters and cleared about 12 tents erected in front of the Federal Reserve Bank.
"Free speech is part of the DNA of this university, and non-violent protest has long been central to our history," UC President Mark G Yudof said on Sunday in response to the spraying of students sitting passively at UC Davis. "It is a value we must protect with vigilance."
Yudof said in a statement it was not his intention to "micromanage our campus police forces," but said all 10 chancellors would convene soon for a discussion "about how to ensure proportional law enforcement response to non-violent protest."
Protesters from Occupy Sacramento planned to travel to nearby Davis yesterday for a noon rally in solidarity with the students, the group said in a statement.
UC Davis officials refused to identify the two officers who were place on administrative leave but one was a veteran of many years on the force and the other "fairly new" to the department, the school's Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said.
Videos posted online of the incident clearly show one riot-gear clad officer dousing the line of protesters with spray as they sit with their arms intertwined. Spicuzza said that the second officer was identified during an intense review of several videos.
"We really wanted to be diligent in our research, and during our viewing of multiple videos we discovered the second officer," Spicuzza said.
Meanwhile, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said she has been inundated with reaction from alumni, students and faculty and would speed up an investigation that was to have taken three months.
"I spoke with students this weekend and I feel their outrage," Katehi said in a statement on Sunday.
Katehi also set a 30-day deadline for her school's task force investigating the incident to issue its report. The task force, comprised of students, staff and faculty, will be chosen this week. She earlier had set a 90-day timetable.
The UC Davis faculty association called for Katehi's resignation, saying in a Saturday letter there had been a "gross failure of leadership."
The protest on Friday was held in support of the overall Occupy Wall Street movement and in solidarity with protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, who were jabbed by police with batons on November 9.
Nine students hit by pepper spray were treated at the scene, two were taken to hospitals and later released, university officials said.
Meanwhile on Sunday, police in San Francisco, about 100 kilometers south of Davis, arrested six anti-Wall Street protesters and cleared about 12 tents erected in front of the Federal Reserve Bank.
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