UC Davis Police Riot Ramifications and Other OWS News

Below are some video images that have been recently posted.

But first of all, you might consider adding your name to the petition calling for University of California Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi's dismissal or resignation.  Close to 30,000 people have signed the letter so far.

The UC Davis Faculty Association's Board has issued a letter calling for her resignation:

The DFA Board calls for the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi. The Chancellor’s authorization of the use of police force to suppress the protests by students and community members speaking out on behalf of our university and public higher education generally represents a gross failure of leadership.

Given the recent use of excessive force by police against “occupy” protestors at UC Berkeley and elsewhere, the Chancellor must have anticipated that, by authorizing police action, she was effectively authorizing their use of excessive force against peaceful UCD student protestors. The Chancellor’s role is to enable open and free inquiry, not to suppress it.

We also call for a policy that will end the practice of forcibly removing non-violent student, faculty, staff, and community protestors by police on the UC Davis campus. The University of California should be taking a leadership role in encouraging the exercise of free speech, not in suppressing it.

Further evidence of coordination of assaults on peaceful citizens legally engaging in their right to protest grievances is growing.  The ACLU and other organizations are filing masses of Freedom of Informaton Requests regarding several police actions in communities and on campuses:

Recently, cities like New York, Portland, Denver, Salt Lake City and Oakland cleared out their Occupy Wall Street protests from their communities.  Beforehand, many cities participated in several conference calls with representatives from the Federal Government about ways to break up these protests.

What the Feds role during these discussions hasn’t been fully ascertained.  From their statements, they implied they were just giving advice and this was a local matter.    These cities were advised by the Feds to seek out legal reasons to justify clearing out these protesters, like focusing on ordinances like  curfew and zoning.

We don’t know who initiated the conference calls. Also, we don’t know what all agencies that participated in these calls or what all was discussed.

Since the official statements are a bit lacking, two organizations have filed a Freedom of Information Act requests asking for “any and all communications regarding the Occupy Wall Street Movement.”
Rick Ellis, Minneapolis Top News Examiner reporter, was able to get the Department of Homeland Security to admit they had a limited role.  He reported that the Federal Protective Services (FPS) assisted the Portland Police.  However, they were charged for mostly insuring that Federal Buildings that were nearby were protected.  The FPS did make some arrests in Portland.  The number of arrests is currently unknown.

There seems to be many issues swirling about the Washington DC wind.  Did the Feds initiate these meetings between the cities?  What legal authority do they have?  What agencies were involved?  If true, is the Obama administration supportive of the Occupy movement as they claim?

Since the statements from the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department have been lacking, I wouldn’t be surprised if the FOIA requests show that the Feds were in reality very active.

 Nor would I be surprised.  At all.

Here's a reading of one of Digby's recent columns on the dehumanization of OWS participants:


Here's a compilation, showing some of the more egregious moments of police misconduct or criminal activity, caught on video:


Here's Chancellor Katehi, walking through hundreds of silent, sitting students at UC Davis Saturday evening, as they protest the police brutality on their campus Friday: