Well, it's still unclear whether police used tear gas in breaking up this morning's student occupation of a New School on Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, but this striking video shows that plenty of pepper spray was liberally applied. Earlier today, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told City Room it was “untrue that pepper spray or mace was used in effectuating the arrests." Could it be he was fibbing? See for yourself, but only if you want your faith in NYPD flacks utterly shattered.
The video was shot by freelance journalist Brandon Jourdan. What you're looking at in the beginning is a side door at the building, through which students were trying to escape as police went through the front to make arrests. Jourdan's steady camerawork eventually pulls back to show the pandemonium on the sidewalks by the New School, where many students had gathered to get their fair share of abuse.
