Occupy Colleges Press Release:

Occupy Colleges denounces police shooting and beating of students at UC Riverside and calls upon a national student mobilization in response

LOS ANGELES, CA (January 20, 2012) – Several University of California (UC) students were once again brutally and unnecessarily injured at yesterday’s peaceful demonstration at UC Riverside.

Close to 800 student activists gathered throughout the day outside the building where Regents board members were meeting behind closed doors to discuss further budgetary cuts and other matters. Police forces already forming a barrier to prevent student access into the building were joined by a legion of armed Sheriff Officers and more police back up toting what looked like guns in hand. They made their way through the hundreds of UC students in order to get to the front line, often pointing their guns or wielding batons in their face and shouting “move.”

As the police and sheriff units finalized their formation at the front line of the protest, seemingly protecting the entrance to the building, they pushed students further back; however in this disorganized attempt to obtain more ground many students lost their footing and either fell or were pushed forward by the dense mob of students that stood or were sitting behind them. It is among this chaos and as students chanted “Peaceful Protest” that at least one student was pushed forward, seized by police and beaten. Almost simultaneously, officers on the front line began to shoot into the crowd of students less than 4 feet in front of them without warning. Several accounts describe the weapons police fired at students as “paint-pellet guns.” The officers continued to fire even as the students struggled to move away, in effect using the bullets, which released paint upon impact, as a crowd control mechanisms.

A staff member at UC Riverside recounts, “Someone moved toward the police - not aggressively, just like they were pushed – and the police started shoving students with batons, shot a few rounds, and arrested at least one student, who 3 cops beat on the ground before they dragged him off.”

UC Riverside organizer Gabriela Vazquez states, “A lecturer, Ken Ehlrich, was dragged away from the front line by his ankles and arrested.” Ehlrich is being held on a $2,500 bail. He is currently still in custody.

Many students were injured during this altercation. At least three were severely injured by bullets, while another during a beating by police.

These events shadow the equally violent protests of UC Davis where student activists performing a sit-in on campus were infamously doused with pepper spray several times. Occupy Colleges denounces the violent force used by police and joins students of all UC campuses and universities and colleges nationwide in calling for a significant nonviolent response to these actions.

Occupy Colleges wants to make it clear that this sort of behavior by police will not be tolerated. It was not acceptable in November at Berkeley and Davis, it was not acceptable during the 1960s and it is not acceptable now. Students, many who believed the days of violent police actions were behind them, will continue to protest until officials get it right: students have the right to peacefully communicate their grievances without the fear of being brutally beaten, shot at or otherwise injured, harassed or bullied.

Please log on to Occupy Colleges official website at http://occupycolleges.org/ for a list of participating schools, to register your school or to learn more about how to organize a group or event at your college or university. Please note, all registered schools are encouraged to take a pledge of Non-Violence in order to participate as an Occupy Colleges solidarity group.