The events of last Saturday exhibit a deeply disturbing blatant abuse of police power, but perhaps the worst part of the whole thing is the East Lansing City Council's lack of understanding of students' viewpoints.

At last week's meeting, the council members seemed to have an attitude toward the whole thing, as if the East Lansing Police Department was automatically correct in their use of chemical agents to disperse crowds of people. They tried to cut the meeting short multiple times, asking something to the effect of, "Does anyone else wish to speak?" and a split second later trying to wrap up the meeting. This barely gave people enough time to stand up or raise their hands signifying their desire to speak.

Although this is appalling, the worst comments came from the police chief. One student who spoke asked exactly how many tear-gas canisters were released that night, to which the chief responded they only released 137. This disgusted the majority of the student crowd as the chief seemed as if he was trying to play it off like those were all the canisters released. A few minutes later, another student called out the police chief's numbers, and he conceded that the number 137 was the amount that only the ELPD used. This was not counting the seven or eight other police forces that took part in policing East Lansing that night.

This just shows me that they are making an effort to downplay the events, as if they are trying to save their own butts. I sincerely hope word gets out of these atrocities. The ELPD and other police organizations are guilty of many wrongdoings, and so far it is going unchallenged by all except the students. In my eyes, the police are guilty of inciting a riot, unlawful dispersion of chemical agents, excessive use of force, littering, improper tear-gas firing procedure potentially causing injury or death and trying to stop those who wished to document the event by picture or video.

I watched one video where a guy taping as the events unfolded was standing by himself filming the police and they fired tear gas right to his feet. This is simply outrageous and shall not stand.

Adam Thomas
fisheries and wildlife sophomore