Protester Starts a Fight and Police Use Pepper Spray

I can totally understand the desire and need to publicly protest. However, I believe strongly that if you do protest, no matter the cause, it should be done peacefully. The laws of our country agree with this and I am very grateful for that. But not all protests are peaceful, even when they plan on them to be peaceful. When they get out of hand, the police are entitled to use pepper spray to restore the peace.

There was a protest in Mira Loma, California recently. Nearly 200 warehouse workers were seeking to become a union but were having difficulties. They decided to stage a protest in the streets. They drove a forklift out into an intersection and had protesters surround the forklift and block off the streets that ran through it. They even had a man with a drum and they all sang songs.

Though they had planned a peaceful protest, blocking off a whole intersection made those in traffic very upset. One man decided to try to drive through the intersection anyway. Protesters grabbed onto his truck and wouldn’t let go. Eventually, the man got out of the truck and the man with the drum started to fight him. The police had to use pepper spray to break up the fight. Later on, several of the other protesters that were surrounding the forklift were arrested as well, though thankfully not for violence.

I’m not sure if the warehouse workers got what they were fighting for, but I am sure of one thing. Violence should not have erupted, even if someone was trying to drive through their protest. Violence wouldn’t have erupted if the protesters had protested in a way that was in harmony with the other people of the city. Better luck next time.