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thedailywhat:

Occupy Movement News Update of the Day: Brandon Watts, who was bloodied by NYPD officers during this week’s Day of Action after allegedly stealing a policeman’s hat, was photographed holding up his now-iconic photo while looking much better.

Watts, who was one of the first people to pitch a tent in Zuccotti Park, reportedly lost his virginity there.

Another dramatic photo to emerge for this week’s N17 protests is this one by Jon Tayler of an NYPD officer pulling a female OWS protester to the ground by her hair:

Two days earlier, just after the raid on Zuccotti, retired New York Supreme Court Judge Karen Smith had a similar experience when says she was pushed up against the wall by a police officer while trying to help woman he was allegedly beating.

“I was there to take down the names of people who were arrested,” Smith told Democracy Now!. She says she witnessed an African-American woman, who claimed her daughter was inside the Park, being thrown to the ground by a cop after she started crying.

“I walk over, and I say, ‘Look, cuff her if she’s done something, but you don’t need to do that’.” The officer then allegedly threatened Smith with arrest, despite her status as a legal observer being printed on her hat. “He said, ‘You want to get arrested?’ And he pushed me up against the wall.”

Follow Up:

Moved by yesterday’s footage of UC Davis students being pepper-sprayed by police, UCD Assistant Professor Nathan Brown wrote an open letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, in which he claims “police forced open [protesters’] mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats.”

He blames Chancellor Katehi for the violence, and demands her immediate resignation on the grounds that she is “the primary threat to the safety of students at UC Davis.”

Meanwhile, the police offers who initially doused the protesters with pepper spray has been identified as UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike. UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza defended the use of pepper spray, saying officers were concerned for their own safety.

[photo: @newyorkist.]

UPDATE: Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi responds: “I am forming a task force made of faculty, students and staff to review the events and provide to me a thorough report within 90 days.”