Interviews at UCSC Graduate Student Workers ULP Strike after Arrests

During the Graduate Student Workers strike on April 2, a group of graduate and undergraduate students attempted to block the entrances of UC Santa Cruz. They successfully blocked the main entrance for the whole day, but the attempt to block the west entrance of campus was prevented when a large group of UC police arrested 20 people.

Students say Josh Brahisnky was forced to the ground by a group of police who "crowded" him and forcefully handcuffed him when he was arrested. When speaking to students at the strike after returning from a stay in jail, Brahinsky's arms were red in a variety of places from the handcuffs.

City on a Hill Press reported early in the day that tasers were used on demonstrators at some point during the arrests, but reports of taser use was denied by UCSC police who say they are not outfitted with them.

According to a KSBW report, campus spokesperson Jim Burns said, "The first individual fell to the ground, started flailing his arms and legs around, alleging he was being roughed up. Really, the officers were just trying to arrest him. He was not Tasered."

This account is somewhat at odds with Burns' description of the arrest in the above interview when he states that the individual was "resisting arrest" and that he doesn't know if he could describe what the individual was doing when he was resisting.


For more information about what UAW 2865 calls "police aggression", see:

UPDATE: Videos of Police Aggression
http://www.uaw2865.org/?p=8531

ACTION ALERT: UCSC Students Arrested
http://www.uaw2865.org/?p=8502

To read the strike press release, see:

http://www.uaw2865.org/strike-press-release/


Alex Darocy
http://alexdarocy.blogspot.com/