I can't spot a gate in the picture and I wasn't there, so I am not sure how the folks came to be standing against the fence and being pepper-sprayed.  I was hoping someone who was there or can identify the exact time and location would be able to give more detail and context to a picture that looks like police misconduct to me.

I had considered the possibility that the demonstrators had brought the plastic tarp and were using it overhead to stay a little drier, but that was simply a thought I had about it.   

was considered a very enlightened and fair man back in rural Texas about 50 miles from Houston and many family members were very proud of the fact that he would treat negroes at the backdoor very kindly even if he had thrown the very same negro off the front porch a few minutes earlier for violating all of the community standards by walking right up on the front porch and knocking on the door instead of walking around the house and knocking on the back door as any reasonable negro in town knew to do. 

He was an enlightened and kindly man.  He had no patience or business with the rougher crowd that could find a justification for lynching unreasonable negroes. He had principles.  Too bad he did not live long enough to come to regret throwing a person off the front porch because of the color of their skin.  He was capable of that kind of understanding.  He died in the 1960s as best I can recall and calculate.  I didn't marry his granddaughter until the early 70's so his kindly ways are all second hand stories to me.  I grew up 100 miles to the west, fewer old south sentiments about race 100 miles to the west, plus my father was a famous negro-lover in my home town.  Probably the only white guy in town who belonged to the NAACP so my family had no stories about the front and back door etiquette.      

I think the overlap between the local police force and the KKK was much higher than the overlap between the local police force and NAACP membership.