UW-Madison student and small-business owner Greg Knowles released video surveillance clips to the Madison Police Department Thursday of the police deploying pepper spray to disperse revelers on State Street Halloween weekend.
\I for one disagree with both the tactics and the expected response to the police's efforts and decisions,"" he wrote in an e-mail to city officials. ""Many of these citizens arrested were simply protecting their rights, exercising free speech or being forced against their will,"" he said.
Police should have tried harder to keep peace instead of using chemical agents, Knowles said.
Knowles said he plans to put several polls on his Web site, http://mywebspace.wisc.edu/wgknowles, in hopes of facilitating a community response on how to deal with future Halloweens.
