UC Davis launching an investigation into pepper spray incident

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UC Davis Protestors Pepper Sprayed

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UC Davis launching an investigation into pepper spray incident

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The University of California, Davis announced it is launching an investigation after a disturbing videotape surfaced showing a police officer in riot gear heavily pepper-spraying a group of student protesters who were seated on the ground on campus.

In a statement posted on her website on Saturday afternoon, Chancellor Linda Katehi wrote she would be forming a task force of faculty, students and staff to review the incident.

“The events of this intervention have been videotaped and widely distributed. As indicated in various videos, the police used pepper spray against the students who were blocking the way. The use of pepper spray as shown on the video is chilling to us all and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this,” she wrote.

The demonstrators were participating in the "Occupy UC Davis" movement on Friday . The video -- first released by NBC's KCRA-TV - was shot by a witness and shows numerous observers watching in horror as a campus police officer douses the students in yellow mist.

"Police came and brutalized them and tore their tents down and all that stuff. It was really scary. It felt like there was anarchy everywhere," student Hisham Alihbob told KCRA.

Police told the TV station that students were given until 3 p.m. on Friday to dismantle their tents from the university's quad.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/uc-davis-launching-investigation-pepper-spray-incident-article-1.980110#ixzz1eCBZh8YQ