The "Occupy" movement spreads to UC Davis, California. Starting an event near you? Reader Supported News will help you spread the word.
UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray to move Occupy UC Davis protesters blocking a walkway in the quad on Friday, 11/18/11. (photo: Wayne Tilcock/Davis Enterprise)
Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Together, Occupy D.C., Occupy Oakland, Occupy Chicago, Occupy Boston, Occupy San Francisco , Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Live Streams
Use this address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Facebook Page: Occupy UC Davis
29 November 11
Occupy UC Davis had a tremendously successful general strike yesterday. After the public comments section ended, and the Regents tried to move ahead with their meeting, a group of students at Davis stood up, and formed their own "people's regent meeting", this was followed with occupy protestors at the other UC campuses also disrupting their meetings. The Regents finally shut down their meeting, and moved to other rooms to finish.
This dramatic end to the Board of Regents meeting was followed by a march of hundreds of students from the campus' quad to Dutton Hall. Students and professors occupied Dutton Hall, holding their General Assembly there that evening. At that General Assembly, Occupy UC Davis approved the following demands: the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi, cops removed from campus and replaced with an alternative safety group, and a freeze on all tuition increases. Occupy UC Davis promised to occupy Dutton Hall for at least the next two weeks.
28 November 11
The UC Regents on Monday got an earful of criticism from students angry about the recent pepper spray incident at UC Davis and worried about the possibility of another tuition hike next year. However, massive demonstrations did not materialize at the four UC campuses where the regents were meeting, linked by teleconference.
At UCLA, about 50 students were at the James West Alumni Center and about 50 more were outside, including some who had set up about 15 tents nearby. UC officials said about 50 protesters attended the meeting at UC San Francisco and about 35 were at UC Merced. Several hundred students and others were at UC Davis for the meeting. Student leaders said turnout was relatively light because of the timing, the first morning after the Thanksgiving break.
22 November 11
To recap for those who haven't seen it: police in paramilitary gear line up in front of a group of Occupy protesters peacefully assembled on a quad pathway. Completely unprovoked, police decide to douse the whole group of sitting protesters with pepper spray. There is crying and chaos and panic, but the wheezing protesters sit resolutely in place and refuse to move despite the assault.
Finally, in what to me is the most amazing part, the protesters gather together and move forward shouting "Shame On You! Shame On You!"
22 November 11
It would have been easy for students at UC Davis to riot after watching their classmates being assaulted with pepper spray. Instead, they remained nonviolent. That simple act gave them the moral high ground. And that's how social change movements grow.
Rewind a couple of weeks.
Occupy Oakland was in a similar situation. Police had violently cracked down on their encampment. Iraq War veteran Scott Olson almost died.
FOCUS: UC Davis Police Violence Adds Fuel to Fire
20 November 11
The University of California, Davis, said on Sunday that two police officers had been placed on administrative leave after using pepper spray on seated protesters in a widely recorded encounter on Friday afternoon.
Reflecting widespread anger over the police behavior, the university chancellor, Linda P.B. Katehi, said Sunday that she would insist that the investigation be completed in 30 days. A day earlier, she had said it would take 90 days.
20 November 11
22-year-old UC Davis student W. (name withheld by request) was one of the students pepper-sprayed at point-blank range Friday by Lt. John Pike while seated on the ground, arms linked and silent.
W. tells Boing Boing that Pike sprayed them at close range with military-grade pepper spray, in a punitive manner. Pike knew the students by name from Thursday night when they "occupied" a campus plaza. The students offered Pike food and coffee and chatted with him and other officers while setting up tents. On Friday, UC Davis chancellor Linda Katehi told students they had to remove their #OWS tents for unspecified "health and safety" reasons.
"Move or we're going to shoot you," Pike is reported to have yelled at one student right before delivering pepper spray. Then, turning to his fellow officers and brandishing the can in the air, "Don't worry, I'm going to spray these kids down."
20 November 11
Video surfaced online Saturday showing an officer at a California university calmly pepper-spraying a line of several sitting protesters, who flinch and cover their faces but remain passive with their arms interlocked as onlookers shriek and scream out for the officer to stop.
The chancellor of the University of California, Davis described the video images as "chilling" and said she was forming a task force to investigate even as a faculty group called for her resignation because of the incident Friday.
