Skye shared this link with me today. I watched the first video (Aidan saw part of the footage with the pepper-spraying) and Austin, Aidan and I watched the second video together.
The first video was quite disturbing to watch. A police officer seemed to be casually spraying seated, peaceful protesters with pepper spray. According to the report, 50 protesters were sprayed in this fashion. Apparently, the police communication stated that the protesters had been given until 3pm to leave their tents, that some of the protesters were wearing protective gear and others were carrying batons. In the video footage I saw, I couldn't identify any students in protective gear, or any students armed with batons.
I was puzzled by the chancellor's request for police to remove "trespassers" from the campus. These so-called "trespassers" were students at the university. How can they be labelled trespassers on their own university campus?
Both Austin and Aidan thought the peaceful "shaming" of the chancellor was pretty cool, given that 1 student of 1,000 had suggested this demonstration. Austin said it's pretty amazing how one person could have so much power over angry people (assuming the students would be angry that their friends had been pepper-sprayed). I then talked to Austin about the difference between power and influence, and he agrees that it was more likely "influence" than "power" used by the single student who orchestrated the peaceful demonstration to shame the chancellor as she left her office.
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