Nonviolent Protesting

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by Raptor

I don't agree with all of this Occupy stuff, but what the officer did certainly looks like excessive force. Then again, we must look at all this in context. We may not be seeing the whole picture.

That is my general opinion around such things, but in this case, I have to disagree.
While the police were within their right to move the protesters on, there was no violence from them and no imminent risk to ether themselves or others. Those are the criteria for when reasonable force is justified - if someone is coming at police with a knife or waving a gun around, they'd be lucky not to get shot. If they're going around smashing shop windows or trying to punch police, they might get pepper sprayed. If they are standing somewhere and refusing to leave when asked, then pepper spray is excessive.