To follow up my own post, I was able to get a bit of information from one of the individuals sprayed. First, the police stepped over the sitting, arm-locked protesters in the first place, so the police were not trapped, and willfully put themselves in the position that they then used to justify using the spray. The "warning" seemingly traveled by protesters and onlookers more than the police, and that the use of the spray was quite extensive, with people getting covered again and again. Considering that the police themselves are claiming that pepper spray is the least violent tool that they could employ in that situation, perhaps the officers on sight felt justified, but again, if that is the least violent tool, then there is something fundamentally wrong with that organization.