Who is breaking the peace?

Who is breaking the peace?

(Toledo) Blade: Now that footage of campus police pepper-spraying nonviolent protesters at the University of California, Davis, has gone viral, the debate about disproportionate law-enforcement responses to civil disobedience can’t wait.

Nearly a dozen students were pepper-sprayed by a police lieutenant who seemed to have little regard for the suffering inflicted on the protesters, who weren’t a physical threat to officers or students. Several protesters were taken to the hospital and 10 were arrested.

The UC-Davis students had gathered to support Occupy Wall Street encampments across the country.

Protesters understand that a risk of free speech is getting arrested in demonstrations that disrupt public order. But being arrested for failure to disperse is one thing. Getting pepper-sprayed in the face, while peaceably assembled, is something else.

The Occupy Wall Street movement generally has been peaceful and orderly. But it has brought out the worst in some police forces.

Municipal and campus authorities have the tough job of balancing free-speech rights of protesters with the rights of others to open access to public places. As police intervene, they must calibrate their response to the behavior they see.

But when those who engage in civil protest are calm and orderly, it’s hard to defend brute tactics. To cite a slogan from a past era: The whole world is watching.