Woman with a flower attacks police

the crowd rush the cops and knock them down, lift up those headpieces, and give them a lil spray in their face

:grr: Are we a facist dictatorship yet? Or is that only possible in those "other countries"?

i also believe in defending yourself... regardless of whos attacking you...

instead of breaking windows and damaging property...all things that have nothing to do with anything... id like to see people fight back against these armed badge carrying thugs...

It would make Kent State look like a picnic.

They push us to the point of pushing back and then it's open season on us.

Unfuckingbelievable.

I didn't read the article, but how are police in a crowd control configuration restricting anyone's speech or quelling dissent?

But seriously, the pepper spray was unnecessary.

If anyone makes the same mistake with me, I swear they'll get more than they bargained for!

When did this happen?

When did this happen?

9/1/08

Minnesota didn't expose it. It was the Los Angeles Times.

(right click on a pic to see where it originates from)

a political agenda i would think.


i could just hear the mind function before the spray...
'god damn pinko hippy , fuck your pansey flower'

This is how far we've slipped into fascism under Bush. The reason we have out of control police all over the nation is the complete lack of action at the top by the Bush Justice dept and the FBI. At no time since the 1960s have police been allowed to run roughshod over citizens until the coming of Bush, the Idiot Son.

They all need to be in jail for things like this, and that includes the cops that let this happen. It's worse then dereliction of duty.

"I gave a flower to the big fat cop. He takes his club and he beats me up" The Producers.

this is America?????

And you don't approach the officers. They were moving through and she should have let them go by. If you notice, she could have quite easily taken just a few steps to the side and they would have gone right on by. In riot training, they basically face one direction and move slowly forward, and it isn't a great idea to approach them. Spraying her didn't look neccessary at all, but at the same time only a small child doesn't know it's a terrible idea to approach a formation of riot control police and not leave. It actually looks like she was fishing for that exact incident to happen.

You get at the point here: "Spraying her didn't look neccessary at all."

The formation was moving around her. She was doing nothing to justify suddenly being sprayed.

... of the riot control line to push the crowd forward? They arent supposed to "go around" anyone.

What you have to understand is that riot/crowd control officers are usually in a hostile environment, greatly outnumbered by potentially hostile people. They do not, and cannot allow their formation to be broken up at all, because that is a tactic for violent riots. If their line is broken then they are putting all the other officers in the formation at risk. This demonstration wasn't a violent one, but the procedure remains the same no matter how friendly the crowd is. The only thing that changes when a crowd gets ugly is that they become more forceful in their response and start hauling bad actors out of the crowd to get them away from the others, which is usually quite effective at preventing the crowd from becoming a full blown violent riot.

What she was doing was impeding the formation when she could have just stepped back. She was already at the edge of the formation, it would have been very easy for her to just move a few feet to the side and she would not have been sprayed. I'm sorry but a riot control formation is not the best place to try and insert yourself, no matter what peaceful offerings you bring.

In the middle of the video it looks as if they're going around her because of the tight shot; a cop appears to be moving around her on her left side. Then I was focused on her being sprayed.

However, I still strongly disagree with the action taken. She was backing up as they advanced and doing nothing threatening. And some hotshot sprayed at her again when she was retreating.

What were these protesters doing that a "control formation" was necessary in the first place?

and it certainly looked peaceful, but crowd control formations have to be in place before a situation requires the step up to riot control. Any political or other simliarly firey gatherings have the potential to turn into destructive and hazardous riots, and also counter-protests are quite common in many demonstrations. Easy for two demonstrations to turn violent, so again in order for the police to watch over and protect the people in the crowd, sometimes the need to push it this way or that. The one woman got pepper sprayed, I think one very quick burst would have been more than sufficient but she should have known better than to get in their path and not take the hint that they are moving through.

Notice how slowly the formation goes, they aren't trying to run anyone down, but they can't have people breaking up the formation. Again, in crowd control the formation is the entire sphere of protection for the officers, and the video doesn't give any context for the event.

And THAT is what is wrong here. Militarizing the police only turns them into jack-booted fascist thugs. Most of them get their thrills from beating up unarmed people and throwing their authority around. Give some people a uniform and a weapon and they become the SS or Gestapo.

by Bong Hits For Truth.


Sorry dude but if you think a riot control formation is an excellent body to stand in front of then you may have a very rude awakening coming to you. They are there to prevent damage to the area and serious injuries to people. If someone has to get sprayed for impeding their movement (formations cannot be broken up, no matter what) then so be it, she could have walked just ten or twenty feet away and been out of their path. Freedom of speech does not cover obstructing the police in their official duties, which in this case was to keep the crowd from turning destructive. Without better documentation it is impossible to know what was going on there, except that the lady approached the police with a flower and wasn't getting out of their way, so they persuaded her to move.

I think we all know what his opinion of this would be.