Pepper sprays are better than guns.

@Nepy

You guys are supporting ur Gov ? CNN news suck.

I'd pay good money to see Ruplayer take that much pepper spray and still be sitting where those dudes were.

I'd pay 3 times more to have these boys visit your place when they're off duty.

Crowd is number 1 weapon in 21st century, you can't ignore even a small group of people that got together to protest something, look at other countries, their experience, crowds with well organized head lead to civil war if idea that they push has political/antigovernment behavior. I wanna assure you that there is no accidents with pepper spray, cops are not idiots, especially when it comes to some case that got picked up by media, it's not a decision of one person to get it done this way.

1000 protesting ----> 200 000 protesting - is a matter of 4-5 hours.

There are def. idiot cops out there, and I think this represented that section very well.

The way you're referring to the crowd makes it sound more like we're advocating a police state that doesn't tolerate change.

Anyways, it was about 100 protesters and it's been like that for a few days. It probably would've died off at this campus. But as a result of the incident & pepper spray, protesters on Monday grew to 5,000.

Shit is hitting the fan in america. I can understand Police needing to protect themselves, but they, more time than not, go WAY over the line with the force they but on the civilians. Here in Oakland, the cops are so wrapped up in meeting a quota of tickets, that they are forced into making normal civilians in to criminals so that they dont lose their jobs. they plant drugs on people and do what they call "Flipping the Script" on you to try and change the meaning of what your trying to say.

The best way to deal with a cop is to not say anything until your in court, and dont resist, just let them rape you. Its shit but that is what will keep your ass out of the Big house. Unless you got like hella drugs on you, then your fucked.

You live in Oakland? Pretty close to me then...

[_RemiX]

I hope you fuckers know im state patrol. Like typical civilians its never your fault. It's always the cops fault.

Remix stfu, it has been proven that cops do that shit. In new york a full department just got busted for doing what i was just talking about. Do all cops do this NO!, are all cops bad NO! BUT the ones that do this give you all bad names. I have nothing against cops that do there job(to protect and server) but the ones that get their EGO mixed up with their job are the ones that should be allowed the privilege to serve on the force. My grandpa was a volunteer cop in concord for 20+ years and never did shit like this. i dont see why cops do it now.

[JackMonroe]

I know from most of the youtube videos and whatnot claiming police brutality, I almost always side with the police.  Pretty much the perp is always doing something stupid.  I understand that is not always the case and in some rare occasions, unwarranted brutality happens.  But most of the time, some jackass is doing something stupid, then not obeying what the officer tells them to do, and instead decides they will do everything in their power to provoke the police. 

[_RemiX]

I know from most of the youtube videos and whatnot claiming police brutality, I almost always side with the police.  Pretty much the perp is always doing something stupid.  I understand that is not always the case and in some rare occasions, unwarranted brutality happens.  But most of the time, some jackass is doing something stupid, then not obeying what the officer tells them to do, and instead decides they will do everything in their power to provoke the police.

+1

From a Law Enforcement perspective (The guy who did the pepper spraying used to work for my Department) use of pepper spray against non-violent protesters is against most of the region's (northern California) use of force policies.  So most departments would not allow this and would discipline their officer.  From a legal perspective from what I gathered is that this is still considered a legal use of force based on the face that the protesters were pulling their arms away from the officers when they did try to effect an arrest. 

The main objective for these protesters is not to get their incoherent message out.  The reason why they "occupy" places (like parks and in this instance a sidewalk) is to provoke police into using force to remove them.  The protesters got exactly what they wanted in this situation.  They wanted the cops to beat, tase, or pepper spray them so that their "plight" would get more media coverage and they would be able to start some litigious action. 

Most cities/states have laws prohibiting people from camping in public without a permit, blocking public sidewalks/roads, being in public parks/on some public properties after dark, etc.  The protesters could very easily keep walking on a sidewalk (as long as they don't prohibit other lawful use of the sidewalk from non protesters) indefinitely.  They could protest until they dropped dead.  They purposely choose to "occupy" a place that has some city/state law prohibiting said action in hopes of getting into a confrontation with police.  The media does not give two shits about the protests unless the protesters are clashing with police.  If the protesters do not violate any laws then the police will not bother them.

Many of my "brothers and sisters in blue" share my opinion that this is a huge waste of time and money for our nation's police departments.  I have participated in the arrests of a few dozen of these protesters and if I had to place a label or a stereotype on the people I have arrested I would call them hippies or losers.  They are protesting out of boredom and because they are too lazy to succeed with the current system.  They want the way our government/society works to change so that they can have as much as the working class without actually working.  Again that is just my impression from speaking with them and dealing with them first hand (while arresting and transporting them).  It is a stereotype and I know that not all of the protesters are losers or hippies.  Many of them probably have jobs (although not what we would call successful careers).