The officers video taped their actions and the video tape has now been widely viewed as part of national television newscasts. There have been similar actions, apparently, against those involved in two other protests in the area. Illegal activities, such as criminal trespass, should result in arrest and prosecution. The protestors, if they engaged in illegal activities, should face the appropriate legal consequences. That police officers, sworn to uphold the law, would assault individuals engaging in a non-violent action in this manner is criminal.
Police have the right to use the force necessary to effect an arrest.
No additional force is proper or legal. Officers have been arresting sit-in demonstrators for many, many years without assaulting them in the manner shown in the video tapes. So it is clear that force was beyond that legally justified to effect the arrests. Even worse, the law enforcement management says it was proper and defends the actions of the officers. The officers who assaulted the demonstrators and the ranking officers who ordered and or support this action should be removed from law enforcement jobs immediately and forever.