Poet Geoffrey O’Brien allegedly among those beaten by police at Occupy Berkeley

Police at Occupy Berkeley have been accused of using heavy-handed and violent tactics against protesters. Among those allegedly injured were Geoffrey O’Brien, a local professor and noted poet who had allegedly asked police to stop beating a student who had refused to break a human chain.

Police are accused of allegedly attacking students who were in no way acting violently. It’s always hard to judge a video when you don’t know what had been happening before the camera was switched on, but here’s some pretty horrifying footage of police suddenly attacking protesters. The incident involving Geoffrey O’Brien is said to have occurred later that day.

Across America, there have been a variety of different police approaches to dealing with Occupy protest sites, but in recent days there seems to have been a move to crack down harder on protest groups, with some police forces claiming that even linking arms is a sign of violent intent.