Members of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Protesters Defense Committee filed a formal complaint with the university’s police department arguing officers unnecessarily pepper-sprayed them during a protest of former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo’s speech last month.  The complaint states that the actions of campus safety officials were "unnecessary and politically motivated” to attempt to silence student protests. The campus police said it would launch an investigation into the incident, but questioned the timing of the complaint since the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies will be visiting this week. The complaint claims that on the night of the protest an officer threw a student on the floor, another officer grabbed a woman by the hair, 8-10 protesters were directly pepper-sprayed in the face and a student activist not at the protest was continually “harassed” by investigators. The protesters defense committee is calling for an independent investigation.  Earlier in the year, protesters at The New School in New York questioned police force after their building occupation ended in arrests and students at the University of Oregon questioned the use of police force and tasers at an anti-pesticide rally.

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