The events at UC Riverside, like those in many in the Occupy Movement, caught the attention of the public after police fired rubber bullets and paint ball rounds at the crowd as the students chanted “Peaceful Protest.”
Lee Rogers is a graduate student at UCLA, but he drove to UC Riverside for the day of action. He is getting his PhD in political science. He has had some involvement in Occupy UC, but he identified more with the Occupy Los Angeles movement.
It was at the last moment that he decided he should head out to the UC Riverside campus to join in the protest that was growing in response to the UC Regents meeting.
“It was at the last moment I decided, yeah I got homework, but this is the UC Regents meeting, I want to be a professor in the future, I need to make sure this public education system’s going to still be around when I come out and I want it to be available to all kinds of students,” Mr. Rogers told the Vanguard last week in a phone interview.
Lee Rogers never went inside the UC Regents meeting. Instead, he was part of the group that had gathered on the back side of the building where the meeting was held. There was a heavy police presence, dressed in full riot gear.
He called it the most successful effort yet and said, “We were able to disrupt their meeting for hours.”
One of their ideas was to block the road to force the regents to engage in a constructive dialogue with the students. Then they noticed the police barricades that Lee Rogers said the police were not really using.
“Basically [we were] using those as a tool to make a clear distinction between protesters and police,” he said. “[We also used them] to keep the protesters safe to prevent police officers from reaching into lines of protesters and pulling them out.”
“There were several points in the day when they issued orders to disperse and they tried to escalate, where we were chanting ‘this is a peaceful protest,’ we were sitting down,” he said. “We did a really good job of not taking the bait when the police officers were trying to engage us.”
“We could tell they [the police] were very nervous, they were very disorganized,” he continued. “But it wasn’t until 3 pm when the state troopers showed up that the university police started to act more brazen.”
He said that when the state troopers came, the students continued to use the barricades as a device to keep space between the police and protesters.
“Any time the police officers would come close, we would put the barricade down and just let the police officers walk by,” he told the Vanguard.
The state troopers began to escalate the standoff, and it was at this point when the protesters began chanting ‘peaceful protest.’
He said that at this point, the police began pulling protesters off the line and the protesters started to act in a manner in which to protect themselves.
“We said, ‘Let’s go grab the barricades,’ because that’s what we had been doing all day – moving the barricades,” he said. “When they could, they would take them out of our hands and throw them to the side.”
“My friend and I were carrying the barricade slowly,” he said, as he had many other things in his hand. “If you watch the video you can see how slowly we’re walking… I’m being very careful.”
“We managed to put the barricade in front of the line of protesters fairly easily but when we secured it, police officers easily grabbed it and threw it out,” he said. “That’s where we’re holding onto the barricade that’s being thrown out of our hands, and we get shot in the legs.”
He said he got shot twice, and the woman behind the other guy holding the barricade got hit by the non-lethal rounds twice.
His friend got hit near the knee and collapsed to the ground in pain. “We had to carry him out,” Mr. Rogers said. “There was not a warning,” he added. They never told him to put down the barricade. “I was completely caught off guard, 100 percent, when I was shot. I couldn’t believe it.”
“I had seen guns around, all day a few officers had them around all day, but I really wasn’t expecting that to happen,” he said.
Up until that point it had been a safe and peaceful protest, all day. Lee Rogers felt that they were simply trying to maintain the same safety measures they had all day. But once the state troopers got there, the stance of the police had turned more aggressive.
“At the point when the UC Police thought they had increasing numbers from the state troopers, my feeling is that they became more aggressive, they were upset that we were still there.” He said they started pulling people out of the line and when the protesters tried to stop people from being pulled out, “they shot us and it was successful in making us drop the barricade and retreat.”
“It made a lot of other people scared and I don’t understand the escalation tactic because it really terrified everyone,” he said. “There were no warnings, we were shot within two or three feet. It was honestly terrifying, we could have been shot in the head, we could have been shot in the face.”
“The marks on our legs were terrible, they immediately bruised and puckered up.” He said that almost a week later the bruise wraps were still around his leg.
The police and UC Officials have defended the actions of police.
UC Regents Board chair Sherry Lansing told the students she was frustrated by their actions.
“If your sole intention is to disrupt the meeting, you have succeeded,” she told the students. “If your intention, which I hope, is to have constructive dialogue … you are welcome, and we wanted you to stay, but if you continue to chant, we can’t do the business. We can’t explore any of the options that you’re talking about.”
A release from the UC Riverside Newsroom indicates that UC Riverside police detained three people during the protests, from a crowd of an estimated 300 to 500 protesters.
According to their release, “A UCR police officer fired pellets toward protesters who were trying to break through police lines. These are hard plastic pellets that are similar in force to a paintball. Officers from the University of California Police Department (UCPD) used batons at different times and locations in response to aggressive action by the protesters. The department is attempting to identify and contact anyone who was injured.”
“The protesters picked up a metal barricade and began advancing through the crowd and toward officers,” UCR Police Chief Mike Lane said. Fearing that the barricade was going to be thrown, or used as a weapon, police deployed the air-propelled pellets. Lane said that incident was the only time that police deployed pellets.
Chief Lane also indicated protesters were picking up the metal barricades to use them to block access to the roadway, refusing to allow vehicles to leave from a parking lot. At one point, university vehicles carrying UC administrators and employees were surrounded by protesters. Police responded and after about 40 minutes, the vehicles were allowed to leave.
“We had planned to take the Regents out of the rear loading dock area, but that was blocked. So we took them to the second floor of the Highlander Union Building, through Costo Hall, and into three vans,” said Chief Lane. “Officers jogged alongside to make sure the vans were not surrounded or prevented from leaving and to keep protesters and pedestrians out of harm’s way.”
“Let me say that I am very proud of how officers were able to allow the Regents to meet here despite the challenges of the protest,” said Chief Lane. “Our officers protected our students, the UC Regents, and other members of the campus community. So my deep thanks to all the officers from the three law enforcement agencies involved.”
“It’s so easy for people to hear what happened and say, what did you do wrong?” Mr. Rogers added. He said he’s a PhD student standing up for his first amendment rights, “I’m not trying to assault a police officer and ruin the amazing deal I have to study politics and get paid for it.”
Lee Rogers told the Vanguard that the police had called the political science department on the Monday after the incident to try to locate him. He said he talked to the Chancellor at UC Riverside who vowed to review the tape of the incident.
In the meantime, Mr. Rogers is uncertain about what will happen next.
“Honestly, I’m kind of scared,” he said. “I’m scared the police are going to show up at my house… I’m worried about my safety as a student.”
“What did I do to deserve this?” he asked. “I’m sitting at my campus right now, honestly terrified… I feel very stuck in an oppressive matrix.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
The moral of this story for all people involved is that each of our actions have foreseeable consequences, and it is best to examine those foreseeable consequences before rather than after initiating the action. Mr. Rogers chose to drive to UC Riverside. The police chose to shoot the rubber bullets. The UC Davis police chose to spray the students with pepper spray.
None of the aftermath of any of these actions can be considered to be a surprise.
“None of the aftermath of any of these actions can be considered to be a surprise.”
Especially picking up a barricade and walking towards a police line during a heated disturbance.
While I am not particularly surprised with the aftermath, one of the interesting things was that Mr. Rogers put the barricade into the context and the fact that the protesters had been moving the barricades all day to create separation and space. Within that context, it seems less reasonable that the police would perceive this as a hostile act rather than a defensive one.
[quote]While I am not particularly surprised with the aftermath, one of the interesting things was that Mr. Rogers put the barricade into the context and the fact that the protesters had been moving the barricades all day to create separation and space. Within that context, it seems less reasonable that the police would perceive this as a hostile act rather than a defensive one.[/quote]
I’m sure there is video out there of the incident, I just haven’t seen it. These people are obstructionists looking for attention. Is disrupting a regents meeting for hours really the way to open up dialogue? You have a group of people, who by admission, are attempting to falsely imprison people. That is a felony.
[quote]He called it the most successful effort yet and said, “We were able to disrupt their meeting for hours.”[/quote]
The above comment says it all…
When one person’s “civil disobedience” impinges on the rights of others, then the person engaging in the “civil disobedience” has lost the high moral ground. The end doesn’t justify the means…
Secondly, if one picks up a metal barricade in a charged situation like this, then one should not be surprised at dire consequences for doing something so foolish…
As everyone who has been following the protests knows, I am usually on the side of the protesters when there is weaponry employed by the police. In this case, at least as relayed here, I cannot support the actions of the protesters due to the seeming discrepancy between their words and their actions. Shifting barricades and de facto holding hostages can hardly be seen in this context as “peaceful protest”. Truly peaceful protest entails sitting down, not making credible threats ( as opposed to those made at UCD which had no credibility at all) , and allowing protesters to be removed from the scene. The strongest statement will be made by entirely non resisting students being carried away limp by riot geared police.
Never the less, I still feel that the use of weaponry was a dangerous over reaction on the part of the police as is shown by the stampede which ensued threatening the truly innocent as well as those carrying the barricade.
Plenty of irresponsible action all the way around on this one.
[quote]While I am not particularly surprised with the aftermath, one of the interesting things was that Mr. Rogers put the barricade into the context and the fact that the protesters had been moving the barricades all day to create separation and space. Within that context, it seems less reasonable that the police would perceive this as a hostile act rather than a defensive one.[/quote]
If the barricades had been moved all day, then why did police only fire at the crowd when the students moved towards the police in a threatening manner – I saw it for myself on the video. Your logic just doesn’t hold water…
I’m not going to add anything to this discussion. Medwoman and everyone else get it. Lee is not fooling anyone.
“Honestly, I’m kind of scared,” he said. “I’m scared the police are going to show up at my house… I’m worried about my safety as a student.”
“What did I do to deserve this?” he asked. “I’m sitting at my campus right now, honestly terrified… I feel very stuck in an oppressive matrix.”
Please, give me a break, does he think he’s going to get waterboarded or something? Oppressive matrix?…LMAO
I reread the article and have changed my mind I think I will add a few things:
you can see how the situation continues to escalate. First they set up tents, then they move to occupy Mrak hall, then they disrupt a meeting and bring metal barricades and hold people hostage. Also remember the attempt to march on I-80. I think we need to see a larger voice of opposition to these protests. They are looking for weaknesses in the community they can exploit to their own selfish ends.
Second. Notice what lee says without fail. He admits they purposely disrupted the meeting for hours. but then he is prepared to immediately say how HES the ONE BEING OPPRESSED. In otherwords, accusing the police and everyone else of what he himself is guilty of – oppression. Holding other people hostage and not allowing people to leave the parking lot sounds like oppression to me.
It is a tactic that is being used more and more at the protests: use increasingly aggressive tactics, then when the authorities come, prepare to act like the victim and use the sympathy card.
“It is a tactic that is being used more and more at the protests: use increasingly aggressive tactics, then when the authorities come, prepare to act like the victim and use the sympathy card.”
Octane, you are so right! Unfortunately too many liberals fall for all of this and cry oppression giving these crybaby agitator protesters what little credibility they have.
[quote]“He said that when the state troopers came, the students continued to use the barricades as a device to keep space between the police and protesters. ‘Any time the police officers would come close, we would put the barricade down and just let the police officers walk by,’ he told the Vanguard.”[/quote]Yeah, that’s really credible.
Just about as believable as this:[quote]“‘Honestly, I’m kind of scared,” he said. “I’m scared the police are going to show up at my house… I’m worried about my safety as a student.’ ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ he asked. I’m sitting at my campus right now, honestly terrified. I feel very stuck in an oppressive matrix’.”[/quote]So, he’s surprised the police didn’t appreciate his effort to help them with crowd control. Why didn’t the police realize how he was assisting “in that context.” Now, he’s “honestly” scared in his own house. Sure.
Big story in the UCD paper, [u]The Aggie[/u], about demonstrators keeping students from using the commercial bank services there. Their fellow students didn’t appreciate them repeatedly shutting down the bank. (Many the Davis demonstrators should had had metal barriers and screamed “peaceful protest” at their colleagues.)
I’m disappointed everyone has forgotten about the reason–ever-rising UCD fees–for the demonstrations in the first place. Have the demonstrations been co-opted by thugs with some other objectives?
[quote]“‘The protesters picked up a metal barricade and began advancing through the crowd and toward officers,’ UCR Police Chief Mike Lane said. Fearing that the barricade was going to be thrown, or used as a weapon, police deployed the air-propelled pellets. Lane said that incident was the only time that police deployed pellets.”[/quote][quote]“While I am not particularly surprised with the aftermath, one of the interesting things was that [s]Mr. Rogers[/s] Chief Lane put the barricade into the context and the fact that the protesters had been moving the barricades all day [s]to create separation and space[/s] but suddenly charged toward officers with the barricade. Within that context, it seems [s]less[/s] most reasonable that the police would perceive this as a hostile act rather than a defensive one.”[/quote]Now, let’s see. Which “context” are you proposing we should believe, David? Mr. Rogers offers no reason for heading toward police with the barricade in this one instance. And, we’re supposed to disregard Chief Lane’s report on the basis of this after-there-fact phone call?
Didn’t it seem odd that the police were close enough to be able to grab the barricade when Rogers and his friend were “creating space” between the parties?
I’ve watched some of the video, and some of the people, whether they were students or simply non-student agitators, were trying to pick-up several of the metal barricades that were linked together and literally trying to shove them up the slope at the deputies as the deputies were originally arriving. It seemed like the “students” were trying to force the barricades closer against the deputies and the wall of the building, perhaps squeezing the pathway of the deputies, but it really didn’t make any sense. It looked more like the “students” were trying to be aggressive without any clear purpose, frankly. The deputies kept walking on this slope to where the campus police were located, but these “students” were clearly taking a number of provocative actions without a legitimate peaceful protesting purpose as far as I can tell. Mind you, this isn’t everybody, but there were elements in that crowd that just looked and acted like trouble makers looking to provoke an incident. The best analogy I can give of some of the people in the situation is of people aggressively running and screaming at you and coming right up to your face trying to take the position that they had not hit you yet and had hence done nothing wrong. Reminds me of the other post today of the “alleged burglar” who broke into the storage closet in the occupied house at night but who ran away when the lights went on, and whose attorney claimed that he wasn’t a burglar because he hadn’t stolen anything yet. Claimed you couldn’t prove that the “alleged burgular” had the intent to steal anything. He could have simply wanted to use the bathroom or maybe just wanted to check the time as he didn’t have a watch. David seems to be on the same side of both issues, so he clearly has a way of looking at these incidents that differ from mine. My personal opinion is that you have some agitators that are trying to provoke an incident and that you have some actual students that are “caught up in the moment”, if I am to be generous, and totally lacking in good sense or taking enough responsibility for their actions. I think that many of these students want to be able to tell their friends that they were there, that they were a part of it, as some sort of badge of honor. I frankly think that this is what is happening in many places with the “Occupy” movement, and particularly on college campuses. The proportions of agitators, true and legitimate peaceful protestors and those who just want to be a part of something or to be able to say they were a part of something undoubtedly varies, but those who want to legitimately and peacefully protest an action need to start thinking more about the company they are keeping, as if you do the equivalent of hanging-out with gangbangers while they are gangbanging, you’ll get little sympathy from me if something goes wrong and you want to claim that “I’m just an innocent bystander” or be completely outraged if you get caught in the “crossfire”. This situation at UC Riverside seemed very different from the one at UC Davis, from what I saw in the videos. The crowd was much more aggressive at UCR in their movements towards the police/deputies. They were rushing forward, pushing up against the police/deputies. That comment by Lee Rogers that they were trying to create space was complete BS if you look at the footage. He seems to be the type who might point a realistic looking toy gun at a cop while charging at the cop in a dark alley and complain that the cop had no right to shoot him.
That kid appears to have been hit with paintballs. They sting and leave welts, but clearly the deputy was shooting low so as not to take out an eye or something. He’d have welts, but I doubt that the paintball would have lead in them. They might be oil based or have some dye that didn’t wash easily to make it tougher for someone to cover-up that they were the one who was hit, but don’t know why there would be any lead in the paint. I suspect Rogers just made that up because it sounded more ominous, either because real bullets often have lead in them or maybe because lead paint can be toxic. I hope this guy makes it onto some talk shows. He’s incredible!
Here is another irony in all this. Who do you think is going to pay for the total costs of these protests? It sure as heck won’t be the administrators w their fat salaries. My guess is the costs of these protests (police, clean-up costs, staff time) will be eventually borne by students in the form of more tuition hikes to cover it. If I were a UC student, I would be infuriated at the demonstrators…
ERM
That was quite a quandary for my daughter prior to graduating from Cal this last year. Who to be more angry with, the disruptive and costly protesters or the non responsive, rich administrators who are willing to demand exhorbitant increases in salaries while shamelessly decrying increasing student costs?. To her I said the phrase most commonly used in other situations but to me also applicable here , “Follow the Money”
To decide who is really to blame.