Within the last week, a video showing rioting students at UC Davis attacking unarmed cans of pepper spray with their eyes has gone viral and sparked outrage among pacifist and free-speech groups. Protestors also attacked police batons with soft, vulnerable parts of their bodies such as their stomachs and backs.
University police released an official report of the incident, which stated that the militant protestors were aggressively seated in a semicircle, armed with a threatening assortment of body parts with which to launch an offensive against police equipment. A disturbed eyewitness recalled the event:
“They [the students] hit the pepper spray with their eyes over and over again until the can was completely empty. Not once did the can offer any sort of resistance. Not once. The protestors were mad, crazy, screaming and yelling with tears of fury running down their faces.”
This event followed a week in Oakland during which unruly demonstrators repeatedly attacked police riot gear and tear gas. Officers are fearful that if the movement does not abate, police bullets may become the next victim of the dissidents’ violent tactics.
