A Stop to Smell the Roses

b00kworm77:

triki-traca:

b00kworm77:

bgyoshi:

Unfortunately, I never feel sorry for people that get sprayed or gassed by police. Ever. Police will always scream and shout that you will comply with their typically simple demands (In this situation, it was no doubt “STOP BLOCKING THE PATH.”) or be gassed/sprayed. Just because you are being ‘peaceful’ doesn’t mean you are allowed to interfere with a pathway/building/other necessity. We as Americans have the right to PROTEST (an expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid), but do NOT have the right to OBSTRUCT (something that obstructs,  blocks, or closes up with an obstacle or obstacles; obstacle or hindrance). Protesters tend to forget the extremely clear line between the two.

If you are OBSTRUCTING, then it is the police’s job to unobstruct the area. If you don’t comply, they will forcefully do so. Get the FUCK off the path and protest on the grass. They never said ‘STOP PROTESTING’ they merely want you to protest the fuck out of the way.

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NO! HELL NO! SO WRONG! First of all, the protesters at Davis on Friday were NOT obstructing ANYTHING. The police were there to remove the encampments, the tents. The protesters were not blocking the police from getting to the tents; the police could step right over the protesters, in fact, they did several times in the video. Secondly, the protesters were not blocking a walkway or entrance to any sort of building. They were sitting on the grass linking arms, not obstructing anything! Thirdly, any sort of rules or regulations or policy does not validate the policemen’s actions! What the police did was wrong, immoral, unjust. Just because it is legal, does not make it okay.

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“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

-Martin Luther King

Reading the article and hearing your response… I still side with the police on this. You’re not allowed to camp on school campus. The protesters were told multiple times for a significant time span that they needed to pack up and leave the quad (after being ejected from another part of the school some days ago) and that if they didn’t leave peacefully they would be forcefully moved. The protesters continued to break the law. When the police went to forcefully remove the students, more students blocked their way. They were told to move and they refused. So the police removed them forcefully. The police were totally within their rights to do what they did. The students knew what they were getting into. The police carried through with exactly what the police were supposed to carry through with. I empathize with the pain their eyes must have felt but they were in the way of the police upholding the law and were warned that they would be forced away if they did not leave peacefully.

Yes. Protest and get your message across, but comply with the police. Seriously. They aren’t helping their message. 

(Source: maritsa-met)