Multiple officers were injured in “protests” by students and outside agitators over hikes in tuition proposed by the University of California’s Board of Regents.

From The Daily Nexus:

Three officers were injured while subduing angry protesters, according to UC San Francisco Chief of Police Pamela Roskowski. Chaos first erupted around 9:15 a.m., she said, when students outside the meeting pushed through metal barricades and charged a group of campus and city police officers, intent upon storming inside the meeting. One officer was hurt in the process as the barricades came down.

Officers administered the first round of paper spray minutes later and prevented protesters from entering the building, blocking all accesses with outstretched batons.
The next three or four hours then turned into a tense hold-out between police and protestors. Time after time, dozens of protestors linked arms together to charge the barricades, were pepper sprayed into submission by authorities, fell back in the lines to recover and were replaced by a fresh wave of dissidents.

“Fifteen people were exposed to pepper spray in lieu of using a weapon,” Roskowski said. “The officers conducted themselves really well — they had been rushed, barricades were used to injure the officers, officers pepper-sprayed to defend themselves.”

The so-called peaceful protesters goal was to storm a meeting of unarmed bureaucrats – at which point what? The crowd had been primed for violence by outside agitators (mostly communist and anarchist groups) and injured cops. The first lesson you need to learn is that if lefties start to protest you must do everything possible to not be in the area. Especially if you are in some way involved with the target of the protest. Cops barely controlled this crowd and in the coming months protests will get more violent.

Also realize that the mob is a two tiered enemy. The most dangerous is the mob itself, but the agitators and “heads” of the mobs often have an agenda beyond the immediate violence. In this case it’s an anti-police propaganda campaign:

However, Associated Students President Paul Monge-Rodriguez, a fourth-year global studies and sociology major, said authorities resorted to unnecessarily drastic measures to suppress the crowd.

“Police are too quick to escalate to risky tactics,” he said. “They could have spoken to the student leaders. Instead, they jumped to chemical means of suppression.”

Pasadena City College student Victor Mendez said police treated him in an unjustified violent manner.

“Fucking cops maced me and beat the shit out of me,” Mendez said. “We’re not just making some symbolic gesture — we’re here to say we won’t accept student fees.”

Student protesters administered aid to their temporarily incapacitated comrades throughout the day, using water with Maalox, milk and various feminine hygiene products to counter the sting of pepper spray.

UC Merced student Emily Hallinan, a fourth-year psychology major, set up a first aid station for students who were hit with pepper spray.

“I think it’s disgusting that police would hurt unharmed students,” Hallinan said. “Nobody was trying to hurt anybody aside from the police. … I came with first aid supplies just in case things got out of hand, and they have.”

Whining aside it’s clear that many of the leaders of this protest had planned on engaging police and came prepared with counter measures designed to get mob members back in action quickly. The second lesson for those who may be around when one of these protests kick off is that you need to stop thinking of these violent incidents as protests that “get out of hand.” Radical groups will act not just as instigators of a mob, but will direct the mob and provide support elements for prolonged conflict.

This will often include providing weapons, shelter and transport to thugs who are bussed in. Sites like Indymedia will set up meetings days and sometimes weeks before the riots for radicals to coordinate their activities. You need to be prepared for what could end up a siege of an area that could last for days in a worst case scenario.

And they will use the police response to their rampages to stir up the crowd and escalate the violence:

According to Roskowski, a crowd of protesters gathered at the community center parking lot around 10 a.m. and attempted to rush past a single police officer, Officer Kemper, to access one of the building’s entry points.

The officer was pushed and surrounded by a group of over a dozen, then dropped of his baton. A student then allegedly picked up the baton and struck Officer Kemper with his own weapon, although online video evidence suggests that the officer drew his weapon of his own accord.

However, according to Chief Roskowski, Officer Kemper was acting out of self defense.

“[He] drew his [sidearm] to protect himself,” Roskowski said. “It appears in my view that the officer showed great restraint.”

Kemper then fell to his feet and came back up with his gun in hand. He backed away from the students as he showed his weapon to the crowd.
“Take his gun,” the crowd proceeded to chant as students caught sight of the raised weapon.

You’ll notice that even the reporter in The Daily Nexus is attempting to propagandize for the attackers, something that will be fairly common. The final lesson that this story illustrates is an important one. If you are unarmed and alone you will die if the crowd thinks you are a viable target. If that cop hadn’t had a gun he would have been seriously injured or even killed. Had they taken his gun, as agitators in the crowd wanted, he would be dead.

The best strategy for you and me is to avoid these scenes entirely, which mean keeping tabs on the politics of the area. Pay special attention to movements and groups that target young men. If there is some simmering issue that may lead to unrest take some precautions, like keeping a “bail out” bag with you that has some supplies you might need if you end up cut off by a crowd. Think seriously about self-defense. Martial arts training won’t cut it with a crowd. Police strength pepper spray barely controlled them so your pocket mace is not what you should stake your life on.

If you can carry a gun and are comfortable doing so then by all means do so, but remember there is no handgun that can control a crowd that really wants you. Bear spray is (supposedly) a hotter formulation and comes in large enough cans to hose down several people, but are harder to conceal than a regular can of mace.

Think defensively. As I have pointed out before clothes make the man (or woman) and clothing that can protect you from the bottles and rocks of an unruly crowd are available. Military style body armor is not always an option but a leather motorcycle jacket is stylish and cut and burn resistant. Some come with plastic or foam armor pads that can withstand moderate impacts and the addition of screw or spikes on the forearms and shoulders is not only a kitschy homage to the 70s punk rock era but helps deter people from trying to wrestle you to the ground.

A good EDC bag is a must, and need not be overly expensive. It should include maps of your area (your GPS may not always work) at least one good folding knife, a flashlight, small first aid kit or trauma kit, multitool and all some other things you may need if you’re cut off from where you want to go by a throng of angry people.

But you’re best defense is to not be there. If you live in a city pay attention to the mood on the street and plan accordingly.

h/t The Blaze