Police Pepper Spray into the Crowd at Protest of JPMorgan Chase CEO (Updated) | Slog:
UPDATE at 7:08 PM: Cops are getting nasty, armed with pepper spray and what appear to be rubber bullet guns. Police pushed through the human chain a few moments ago with their bicycles and began indiscriminately pepper spraying into the crowd of people, Goldy reports. Protesters are trying to clean out their eyes, including one victim who says he was standing back simply videotaping, when the cop pepper sprayed him and the surrounding demonstrators. Goldy points out that nobody was arrested—no clear law broken—but rather just a chance to pepper spray people (even those who weren't in the human chain).
Meanwhile, several dozen cops are standing on Pike Street, some of whom have rubber bullet guns. Asked what the guns shoot, one cop said it fired "flowers."
UPDATE at 7:45 PM: As rain pelts down in heavy wind, the night wears on, and regular blasts of pepper spray begin to take their toll, the crowd has thinned to about 50 people. There aren't enough people to maintain the human chain anymore, but they stand near the hotel entrance on Pike Street. When people want to leave the hotel, Goldy reports, a few police push their bikes into the crowd as barricades and then pepper spray everyone in the crowd. This has happened several times now. There's a makeshift clinic across the street where pepper spray victims are having their eyes rinsed out (it reportedly begins to help after 20 minutes). One woman at the clinic says it was "like having habanero rubbed your eyballs."
