I don't see blatant police brutality and gross abuse of power. I don't see this as a sign that we're living in a police state.
I'm stunned. Seriously.
So the use of a weapon on a non-violent threat isn't brutality? Because that is what pepper spray is - a weaponised substance. In most countries it is not accessible to the public, in those that do allow public carry and use of pepper spray, many require licenses.
In all states that utilise pepper spray as a form of police weapon, it is officially to be used only as a pacifier in a violent situation, not for punitive or pre-emptive measures.
Pepper spray isn't adopted by the police in many countries because the claims of it being "non lethal" have been proven time and time again to be false - people die from receiving hits of pepper spray from the police. It can cause breathing complications and respiratory failure,
especially when fired at point-blank range for an extended period of time, just like in this UC Davis incident.
This was police brutality. This was assault with a weapon. This was fucking disgraceful.
To the people defending the protesters, what do you think the cops should have done? Well, short of just leaving them alone and risking their own livelihoods.
I don't know, why didn't they do their goddamn jobs and enforce the law with care and consideration?
Assuming they were in breach of law, why is "use of force to separate students" a big, bad no-no? It is a whole lot safer for the police to go in, forcefully separate the students and arrest them. That wouldn't require harm to the students. When did non-violently arresting people to control a situation, rather than utilising weapons against those clearly not a threat, become a non-option?
How the situation should have gone down:
Officer: You are in breach of <specific law> and you are to disperse immediately.
...
Officer: Disperse immediately or face legal action.
...
The students having not dispersed, the officers then work together to arrest the students non-violently and take them away. In the event (and only in the event) of the students resisting arrest by violent means and posing a genuine threat to the officers, use stricter force, perhaps even to the ends of pepper spray (though they should avoid its use where possible), should be applied to carry out the arrest.
That isn't exactly hard, that's the required legal process to lawfully arrest someone in most countries.