Berkeley: More than 1,500 Stop Train, Interstate 80 in Third Night of Protests
"Unless we're free, we will prevent the system from operating."
December 10, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
December 8—After facing the clubs of riot police, tear gas, and rubber bullets on the two previous nights, more than 1,500 took to the streets in Berkeley on Monday night, marching for hours, blocking freeways, lying on railroad tracks to stop an Amtrak train, and facing off with police to demand justice for Eric Garner, Michael Brown and other Black and Latino people murdered by the cops.
Photos: Erika Fournier
A student said that a University of California Vice Chancellor sent out an e-mail to all students and staff before the protest urging them to leave the campus early to avoid the demonstration. The student said that given the title of the e-mail—“Protests Planned, Take Action”—and the number of students at the protest, the e-mail may have had a different effect than intended.
The protest was made up primarily of students but also people from the campus community, activists, Black youth from West Berkeley and Oakland and others. 60 people from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley came as chaplains, marching with the protest and providing water and food.
The Berkeley Student Advocate’s office handed out kits with water and masks to help protesters deal with tear gas.
After leaving the UC Berkeley campus the protest took off toward the Berkeley police station, which was blocked by scores of police in riot gear behind police barricades. The protesters took off down University Avenue, determined to block a freeway. The night before, protesters had blocked Highway 24 and police had used tear gas to drive them off that freeway.
Near the entrance to the freeway about 100 police faced off with the protesters. Face-to-face with the cops, protesters called them out and raised their hands shouting, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot.” After about a half-hour standoff, a section of the march circled around to another freeway entrance, again blocked by the police. The protesters marched along a frontage road. At one point a fence was torn down and several hundred protesters climbed onto the Interstate 80. When they made it to the freeway, the protesters danced with joy, linked arms, and sat down, blocking freeway traffic in both northbound and southbound direction. After about 30 minutes this group was forced off the freeway by police who clubbed several protesters.
At the same time another group of protesters lay down on railroad tracks while others linked arms bringing an Amtrak train to a stop. A protester stood in front of the train with a sign reading, “Black Lives Matter.” One of the protesters who stood on the tracks and linked arms to block the Amtrak train told the San Francisco Chronicle, “Unless we’re free, we will prevent the system from operating.”
A third group of protesters blocked a long line of police on motorcycles who were trying to use a pedestrian walkway over the freeway to get to the protesters on the freeway.
The group of protesters that had been pushed off the freeway was able to regroup and march along the frontage road. Another fence was torn down, and again several hundred strong the protest spilled onto the freeway. The protesters eluded police by jumping over the center divider several times while marching toward the Bay Bridge.
After more than one hour blocking the highway and having marched past two freeway exits, police were finally able to block the protesters' path. A group of protesters were “kettled”—surrounded by police with no route of escape. The kettled protesters chanted, "I don't see no riot here! Why use riot gear?" while those outside the kettle yelled at police to let them go. 159 people were arrested by the police and Highway Patrol.
On Tuesday, December 9, Mayor Bates canceled the planned City Council meeting because people had planned to come and protest the use of tear gas and rubber bullets. On Wednesday Berkeley High students are planning a walkout. Protests against police murder and brutality continue.
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