Police pepper spray Haka dancers at football game

[IDemo]

Source: Associated Press

(AP) – 4 hours ago

ROOSEVELT, Utah (AP) — Police in a small Utah town are being accused of overreacting after using pepper spray to break up a group of Polynesian men and boys performing a traditional dance called the Haka after a high school football game.

The police action came after a pair of officers unsuccessfully attempted to disperse the dozen or so performers who were blocking an exit after the Union-Uintah game Thursday night, the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune reported.

A form of the Haka has been popularized by rugby players in New Zealand who chant, beat their chests and gesture aggressively before matches. The Maori tradition also can include fierce facial expressions. Haka are now performed at football and rugby games around the world.

The group in Roosevelt, a town of 8,000, had traveled about 125 miles east from the Salt Lake City area to watch a relative play his final game for Union, which lost to rival Uintah and finished the season without a victory.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i1Zl9ZaagYf5KeCzDuNNToIgN1ow?docId=74199a0ae3a044afb98a91e5e77c966e

[swilton]

1. Oklahoma University

among others is one that uses this form of chant - one of their freshman linemen introduced this to the team and they feature it in one of their promo videos.

[tabasco]

2. Do you have to take a stupid test to become a cop?

The occupation seems to attract some of the dumbest people.

[Exultant Democracy]

3. Some cops need to pass a test proving they are stuid first to get the job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvijdxnHxI

[Warpy]

5. Don't forget they're bred in the bosom of the Mormon church

in white bread, theocratic Utah.

If they don't understand it, they'll pepper spray it. They used to shoot it.

[jwirr]

8. That is what I was thinking. Something foreign lurking in their backyard

and they need to eradicate it or whiten it. The dancers should have told them they were Native Americans and they would have immediately proceeded to try to convert them. And I am not saying that without experience. I am very capable of distracting their missionaries with questions etc. so when they hit our reservation people would send them to my house - I would then give them a hard time until they left.

We have the unfortunate role of being a part of their religious plans. No thanks.

[Warpy]

10. I did you one better

They not only skip this house when they're making their rounds, they cross to the other side of the street when they get to it.

Waking up a nurse after a 12 hour night shift is just not smart, guys.

[jwirr]

11. Wonderful. Good for you.

[TorchTheWitch]

25. the Haka is Maori (native New Zealand) not Native American

Apparently, the Maori trace their roots to the Eastern Polynesians.

I can't really fault the police in this instance entirely. They had no prior warning of what was planned or what it was, and the Haka is a traditional war dance with fierce facial expressions and gestures that may have been misunderstood. They were also entirely blocking a crowded pathway and wouldn't disperse when warned which was more than likely what prompted the pepper spraying. Had they just let the two cops in on what was planned, how long it lasted and not blocked the pathway in doing it there wouldn't have been any problem, and the cops probably would have enjoyed watching.

Your theory of "eradicating" "something foreign" "lurking" in their midst in this instance is just absurd in the extreme. That the cops were secret religious missionaries instead of cops doing their job trying to stop an incident that was entirely blocking a pathway and were ignored when attempting to unblock said pathway is laughable.

[jwirr]

26. Since I live on a reservation I am very aware of that. My point was

that if they had mistaken the dance as something Native American they would have treated them much differently since Native Americans are part of their religious ideas.

[W T F]

13. You mean the Moron Church.

[alfredo]

41. They do have a prophet named "Moroni."

[iris27]

43. Well, an angel actually, but yeah. n/t

[alfredo]

44. Haven't the Mormons caught on to the joke?

[Javaman]

9. Yes and if you fail, you become captain. LOL nt

[Honeycombe8]

34. Do you have to take a stupid test to dance the Haka? Blocking an exit...

is dangerous. When asked by police officers, whose job it is to protect the general public, to move out of the way of an exit, it's best to do so.

The cops may have overreacted in using pepper spray. But blocking an exit is stupid, and even more important, dangerous.

[tabasco]

35. Yeah, I'm sure it was an imminent disaster because the exit was blocked for a few minutes

Get a grip.

[Honeycombe8]

36. You get a grip. A lot of people have been burned alive over the yrs because of exit

issues. It's a "gripping" matter. It was taking longer than a "few minutes," as you say, if there was time for the police to be called, for them to tell the guys to move away from the exit, for the guys to refuse to do so, for the police to decide what to do about it, and then for them to be pepper sprayed.

In other words, the toga guys were there to dance for however long they liked, regardless of who else didn't like it, or what exits might be blocked, or whose property it was. In other words, it was all about THEM and their little dance.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

37. Nobody was going to be burned alive

The dancers were blocking the path used by players to exit the field, not blocking the fire exit in a crowded club. No spectators were inconvenienced, only a few players.

Granted, it was a selfish exhibition, blocking the field exit, but nobody was endangered.

[tblue37]

4. I just went to watch a couple of videos of the All Black rugby team perform hakas before

games. I really got a kick out of the looks on the faces of the opposing teams standing across from the All Black team as they did their dance.

[blaze]

6. Haka video

Just one of the links I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMCAV6Yd0Y

Had never heard of it before.

[EFerrari]

30. I love watching these videos. If you do it long enough

you start chanting along, lol.

The Democrats should do this before every important Congressional session.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-lrE2JcO44

[CRK7376]

38. ABSOLUTELY!

As a former rugby player, I love the HAKA and would love to see Democrats in Congress use it to shout down Repubs as they pontificate.

[EFerrari]

40. I contacted OccupySF (San Francisco) and they may start training

the Haka in their non-violent direct action work group. LOL! :hi:

[Little Tich]

7. Meanwhile in New Zealand the police perform Haka...

Haka by NZ police:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yivsN18ijjM&feature=related

[EFerrari]

14. That was awesome! They did a great job.

[SwissTony]

23. When hakas meet

NZ vs Tonga

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_K95oxWbvBA>

and the Irish response in 1989

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fg4FyhZ-Kg>

[EFerrari]

33. And the army, too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rDoV0EBu44&NR=1

We need to send this video to @OccupyMarines. :)

[SoapBox]

12. LOL...Just about everyone outside of the rich ski areas is Mormon...you would think

that the idiot police would know more about this, since the "church" has been
recruiting from the South Pacific for years.

Idiots.

[Lasher]

15. The Haka is cool, I didn't know about that.

But the performers should not have been blocking an exit after the game. And I don't see the point in doing it after your team just lost a game.

[slackmaster]

20. I learned about it this summer when a Polynesian dance troupe performed at a luau I attended.

The men performed several different versions of Haka. I loved it!

[No Elephants]

16. And they say the movie "Footloose" is out of date.

[Bragi]

17. Overreacting? Gee, that's harsh

It's not like the cops actually killed the dancers.

[IDemo]

18. So any non-fatal police reaction to group dancing is OK?

Seriously screwed up thinking.

[Bragi]

19. Okay, I should have used the sarcasm icon

I think the cops spectacularly overreacted.

[IDemo]

21. Gotcha. Could you let me finish my first cup of coffee in the future before posting?

;-)

[Bragi]

22. I'll do the same

I consider that any sarcastic comment that requires a smilie to explain itself is simply not well written, so I wear this. Enjoy your coffee, and your day. :)

[No Elephants]

24. FWIW, I thought your post was very clearly sarcasm.

And people (probably very correctly) accuse me of being too literal.

IMO, IDemo is right. His or her lack of coffee was the problem.

[Warren Stupidity]

28. We have a long and sorry history here of people supporting anything done in uniform. nt.

[tblue37]

27. I have watched several different groups performing Hakas on YourTube

since first coming to this thread last night.

As a woman, I just have to say that I find groups of men performing war dances of any sort fairly funny. I find their posturing (which is, after all, largely what a war dance is about) to be cute in a goofy sort of way. I enjoy the hakas (and other such performances), but I still have to laugh at them.

[Warren Stupidity]

29. First they pepper sprayed the Haka Dancers, but I am not a Haka Dancer

so I moved along as there was nothing to see there.

Then they pepper sprayed the Tuba Players, but I am not a Tuba Player, and who cares about the band, so I moved along as there was nothing to see there.

Then they pepper sprayed the Cheerleaders. Wait one fucking minute. They pepper sprayed the cheerleaders? WTF? But again, I am not a Cheerleader so I moved along as there was nothing to see there.

Then they pepper sprayed the Couch Potatoes. Well that sure struck close to home, but I do get up off my fat ass every now and then, so really I am not a Couch Potato, I swear I'm not, so I moved along as there was nothing to see there.

Then they pepper sprayed me.....

[EFerrari]

31. What we need is a haka team at every occupation.

How hard can it be. :)

[Ian David]

32. I wish I coached Girl's Field Hockey, just do do something like this unexpectedly. n/t

[KamaAina]

39. I thought it was overreacting when the University of Hawai'i football team got penalized

for doing the haka before a game with Louisiana Tech. Seems the Tech players were scared and complained to the officials, who obligingly gave UH a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. :eyes:

But pepper spray?! Ye gods!

[IDemo]

42. I was impressed when a UH player chewed open a coconut before a game

They do live up to the Warrior name, I'll say that much.