Pepper spray use on revelers to face Columbus Police Review

[Orrex]

5. I've heard conflicting reports:

Were the cops actually on the street in camo riot gear & armored vehicles in preparation for the riot? If so, then that's simply an obscene violation of civil rights because it directly curtails the 1st Amendment right of peaceable assembly.

Regardless, the use of pepper spray in this context is indeed disgusting, and it's sad that we can consider them lucky not to have been killed outright.


I'm not sure of the formal procedure, but I read years ago that someone "at" or a riot is considered to be a participant in the riot. By this idiotic reasoning, pepper-spraying the bystanders probably seems perfectly justified.