Because some faculty members called for his removal chancellor of UC Davis launched Saturday study on pepper spray apparently peaceful protesters gather Davis campus police.A video of the incident Friday was going viral on the Internet showed a policeman sprayed the demonstrators with a can of pepper spray as they huddled on the ground. The police have tried to clean quad University of tents and campers.
Teachers and students have reacted with outrage. Nathan Brown, assistant professor of English, said in an interview that the episode was the latest example of "the systematic use of the UC chancellors of police brutality" to quell demonstrations.
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In an open letter he wrote: "Without any provocation whatsoever, apart from the body of the students sit where they were on the ground with their arms linked, police pepper-sprayed students stay on earth, now writhing in pain. with arms linked. "
Chancellor Linda PB Katcha initially criticizing the police, but said Saturday they had seen the video of multiple accounts and examine the scene.
"He left a very bad feeling about what happened," he said in a telephone interview Katcha. "There was not enough information to show that we must seriously consider what happened."
She said she allowed the police to remove the tents, but not to use pepper spray as shown on the video. "Absolutely not," she said.
In a statement announcing the formation of a working group to investigate the matter said Friday Katcha "was not a day that would make everyone on the campus of our pride."
"The use of pepper spray, showing the video is shocking for all of us, and raises many questions about how best to manage these situations."
At a news conference Saturday, said the UC Davis Police Annette Spicuzza decision to use pepper spray was done on stage.
"The students had surrounded the police," she said. "They needed to finish. They tried to leave, but was unable to get out."
Wildanger Geoffrey, a graduate student in art history, said he was spraying 'in my ears and nose. It hurts too much. You feel your whole body is in flames. "
He said police overreacted. "The police are not endangered in any way."
Two students were treated in a hospital and released, and several others were arrested, officials said.
The Davis Faculty Association. sent a letter requesting that Katcha Saturday's stage below. "The chancellor's role is to allow free and open inquiry, not to eliminate it," writes the association, urging approval of Katcha force by the police to remove Davis shops occupy "lack of leadership."
The board of directors of any State Board of UC Faculty Associations agreed, saying in a statement Saturday that "police brutality" was used against protesters at UCLA, UC Berkeley and Cal State Long Beach.
Board member Mark Levine, a UC Irvine professor of history, Davis said the incident left "shocked, almost speechless. It looked like a fire extinguisher size can of mace sprayed in the face of peaceful students. "
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, protesters and police occupation seems to reach a relaxing Saturday at least 100 tents to the street. To avoid immediate deportation, the demonstrators agreed to thin their ranks and keep the camp clean. The police and public works staff will clear a few tents on Market Street and along the Embarcadero
