Hundreds of UC Davis students protest pepper-spraying by police

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DAVIS, Calif. — Hundreds of students and faculty
members at UC Davis gathered Monday in the campus quad to protest the
use of pepper spray on students by university police last week.

The
police on Friday sprayed a group of students who were sitting down in a
peaceful protest as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Eleven
students were treated for the effects of pepper spray, including two who
were treated at a hospital.

Since then, two
campus police officers and UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza have
been placed on leave. UC officials are investigating the incident.

Some
students Monday carried signs saying, “My voice is stronger than your
pepper spray,” and there were calls for the ouster of UC Davis
Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. She was expected to appear at the rally to
speak about the incident.

A group of students who
were pepper-sprayed and arrested Friday spoke to the crowd from a small
stage, and were greeted by cheers of support as well as the chant,
“Whose university is it? Our university!”

Geoffrey
Wildanger, 23, a graduate student in art history from Los Altos, said,
“Three days ago, I was pepper sprayed. It hurt. It hurt a lot, but you
know that already. What happened on Friday is not exceptional. Police
brutality may not be the most common occurrence on UC Davis but it
happens every day to poor people, women and people of color.”

David
Vuscho, 22, said he and his fellow protesters posed no threat to
officers but were pepper-sprayed nonetheless. “We were just kids sitting
down in a circle singing. Someone yelled pepper spray, and I closed my
eyes, and at that point I entered a world of pain.”

He
urged students to “not choose a path of violence. I want take back our
university brick by brick. But we’ll will do it with dignity.”

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