Video: Controversy in Utah After Police Use Pepper Spray on Group Performing Maka Dance Following a High School Football Game
There seems to be a bit of controversy in the state of Utah for how police reacted towards a group of males performing a traditional dance following a high school football game.
According to Cameron Smith of Yahoo! Sports, police used pepper spray on a group of males performing the popular “Haka” dance after claiming they were blocking an exit following the Union-Uintah game last Thursday night. The popular dance–which has been popularized by rugby players in New Zealand–was performed by a group of males that the trip to watch a relative play in his final game with Union and all they wanted to do was help boost the team’s morale after their disappointing loss to Uintah.
Obviously, that back fired for the group of over a dozen performing the dance as police claim they were forced to use pepper spray after the performers refused to move away from the exit.
The Haka dance is harmless as the performers just chant, beat their chests, gesture aggressively while occasionally making fierce facial expressions to get their team fired up. It’s one thing to be concerned about blocking an exit, but even some of the other patrons in attendance said pepper spray was completely unnecessary for something this minor–especially since it was clear the dance was going to last such a short period of time.
Be sure to check out the video above of the controversial reaction by police courtesy of Smith’s article and determine whether or not you think police were too aggressive for an incident like this.
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