Pepper spray police placed on leave
Two university police officers involved in the pepper spraying of seemingly peaceful protesters have been placed on leave after footage of the incident went viral online.
The video shows an officer casually blasting pepper spray into the faces of seated, non-violent protesters at the University of California, Davis.
The protesters were taking part in the global 'Occupy' movement against capitalism and corporate greed when they were asked to move on by campus police.
The students remained seated with their arms linked when an officer in full riot gear pulled out his pepper spray.
The protesters shielded their faces as the officer calmly walked along and sprayed them directly in the face while surrounding students chanted 'the whole world is watching'.
The incident has sparked outrage online as students and staff at the school call for Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign over her 'gross failure of leadership'.
Ms Katehi has formed a task force to investigate the incident, saying she takes full responsibility for what happened on her campus.
"I spoke with students this weekend, and I feel their outrage," she said, "I have also heard from an overwhelming number of students, faculty, staff and alumni from around the country.
I am deeply saddened that this happened on our campus, and as chancellor, I take full responsibility for the incident.
However, I pledge to take the actions needed to ensure that this does not happen again. I feel very sorry for the harm our students were subjected to and I vow to work tirelessly to make the campus a more welcoming and safe place."
But Ms Katehi has now become a target for her students' wrath.
After a media conference on Saturday night, students lined the three blocks from a media centre to the Chancellor's car.
As Ms Katehi left the campus, students watched in silence in what must have felt like the longest walk of the Chancellor's life.
It's not the first example of violence to come out of the Occupy movement.
Last week an 84-year-old woman was pepper sprayed at an Occupy Seattle protest, while police have used force to break up protests in New York and Melbourne.
