Stop police violence against protesters

A disturbing pattern is emerging nationwide in response to the Occupy Movement, which has seen plenty of police violence.

For weeks now, police forces across the United States have been deploying chemical weapons against protesters, ranging from pepper spray to tear gas.

In late September, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna of the New York Police Department used pepper spray to attack a group of unarmed women who had already been contained by police barriers.

Bologna was only brought to justice because the incident was caught on video, though I use the term justice lightly. Bologna faces the astonishingly light punishment of losing ten vacation days.

More recently, Scott Olsen, an Iraq War veteran, was left in critical condition after a tear gas canister fractured his skull. Olsen was taking part in an Occupy Oakland demonstration during which the police deployed tear gas and flash bang explosives.

In fact, protesters claim police threw a flash bang at them when they attempted to aid the injured veteran, in addition to firing rubber bullets into the crowd.

Videos of protesters’ wounds inflicted by rubber bullets are available online, and I encourage you to seek them out. The bruises are grotesque, often larger than a fist, but it’s time the public began educating itself on the true nature of police violence, because that violence is not going to stop.

A second veteran has already been put in the hospital by the Oakland, Calif. police. Kayvan Sabehgi, a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, was beaten into submission by police wielding batons and left with a lacerated spleen.

However, he was not taken to a hospital until he had already been detained, in excruciating pain, for 18 hours.  

We are finally seeing the results of allowing the police to utilize military-grade weaponry against our own populace.

To make matters worse, the idea that the protesters are legitimate targets of violence has seemingly spread to the anti-protest portion of the civilian population. Earlier this month, a man driving a Mercedes-Benz ran over two protesters participating in the Oakland, Calif. general strike.

Thankfully, both protesters lived. However, the police officers who responded to the incident allowed the driver to leave, despite the fact the man had intentionally accelerated into a group of civilians.

A similar incident took place in Washington, D.C., when the driver of a Lexus ran over three protesters, including a pregnant woman and a 13-year-old. Again, the police decided not to press charges against the driver, who had made the ridiculous and insulting claim that the protesters had thrown themselves in front of his car.

There is an obvious connection between these incidents and the treatment of protesters by the police. The police have responded to the Occupy Movement with vicious violence, and certain members of the public have taken that as a signal that the protesters are legitimate targets for violence.

We cannot condemn private violence against the Occupy Movement without also condemning the police response to the protests.

­— atcrane@indiana.edu