UC Santa Cruz students, police clash at meeting

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Accounts of how violent the confrontation got differed depending upon who was talking.

Student protesters say police turned violent, used pepper spray and beat some of the students with batons, bloodying at least one.

Representatives of the university and the regents said that although police did use pepper spray, they acted appropriately.

The trouble began at about 4:30 p.m. The Board of Regents was gathered inside the new Humanities Lecture Hall to greet students and faculty during a special visit to the campus. Outside the hall, about 200 student protesters, objecting to various UC policies, had blocked entrances to the building.

As campus police escorted some meeting participants from the hall, pushing and shoving between protesters and officers. Protesters said about 20 officers were involved. Police declined to comment.

"It was unprovoked," said Ian Markson, 21, a protest organizer who said he was pepper-sprayed during the confrontation. "They were forceful and started pushing from the beginning."

The officers swung batons, striking some of the students, protesters said. One student said he saw another student bleeding from his head.

At one point, officers grabbed three protesters and dragged them into the building, detaining them there, students said.

Trey Davis, a UC spokesman who was inside the hall when the trouble began, said his understanding was that three protesters tried to push their way past the guards, prompting one of the guards to use pepper spray....

...He also said an officer's pepper spray backfired on the officer.

Both Davis and a UC spokeswoman said the officers did no wrong.

"The officers operated with tremendous restraint and professionalism," UC spokeswoman Elizabeth Irwin said...

...By Wednesday night, police cited and released the three protesters, which included two students and an alumna. The trio had been detained for hours inside the building, prompting a quasi-vigil from the rest of the protesters.

Protest organizers said all they wanted was to let the regents know about their long list of grievances, including rising student fees, elimination of academic programs, and low retention rates of minority students and faculty.

"We weren't trying to get into the auditorium," said senior Steve Stormoen, 20, one of those cited on misdemeanor resisting arrest and disturbing a public meeting. "We were surrounding the space to give a nice goodbye to whoever left the auditorium."

Markson said the protesters were upset about the maximum public comment period of 20 minutes total during regents' meetings, which protesters said didn't give them enough time to list their grievances.

"The public comment period is a farce," he said. "It only gives each student 30 seconds to speak. We thought it would be more powerful if we just spoke out, rather than bring our grievances to the regents."

Police released the three protesters from the hall at about 7:30 p.m., drawing loud cheers from the others waiting outside.

UC spokeswoman Irwin said one of the protesters was cited for three felony counts of battery on an officer. The other two were cited for misdemeanors....

....The protesters received support from some of the faculty.

"It was very clear that this was a nonviolent group of students," said Dana Frank, a U.S. history professor who has taught at the university for 16 years. "I'm really deeply disturbed that something like pepper spray could be used in this situation."