UC BERKELEY “OPEN UNIVERSITY” RAIDED BY UC POLICE, 65 ARRESTED

liveweek.net Dec. 11, 2009

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UC BERKELEY “OPEN UNIVERSITY” RAIDED BY UC POLICE, 65 ARRESTED

Contact: Elias Martinez (559) 999-4964 and Ianna Owen (570) 977-0487

This morning, on the fifth and final day of a weeklong “Open University”
held at UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Hall, University of California Police
stormed into the building around 5am, arresting 65 people without
provocation, witnesses said.

“People were not given a final warning – police burst in while people were
sleeping and immediately started locking doors and arresting people. Many
students have papers due today, and finals to take starting tomorrow,”
said Elias Martinez, an undergraduate from Political Science. “There had
been cops in here all week, they were acting like it was okay. We had no
idea.”

The police raid at UC Berkeley came one day after students participating
in an occupation at San Francisco State University, also railing against
budget cuts to public education, were arrested by SFSU Police at 3am.

Douglas Virgos, an undergraduate student, spent the night in the UC
Berkeley building but then left on a food run in the early morning. “I got
back and saw that the police had put handcuffs on the doors. I was there
all night and never heard police tell us we had to leave.”

Students and faculty supporters who gathered on the scene shortly after
raid alerts went out say they saw the students, some of them without shoes
and wearing only their underwear, being loaded onto Alameda County
Sheriff’s buses headed to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

“We’ll be shuttling people out there all day on caravans to do jail
support and camp out there until the protesters are released,” said
Melissa Barker, an undergraduate of Interdisciplinary Studies and parent.
“The fact that the cops drove 65 people all the way to Dublin makes me
think that the charges will be way more than misdemeanor trespassing.
We’re worried, but we’ll do everything it takes to support our folks.
We’ll be there all weekend if it takes.”

Students have been holding public events, including teach-ins on the UC
budget, study-ins, and live music shows as part of a “Live Week” of Open
University events since Monday.

The week of events was scheduled to end with a free concert in Wheeler
Hall, where the Oakland-based political hip hop artist, Boots Riley, would
perform tonight.

“We are going to proceed with the event today, and this show will be
larger than ever. We’ll continue to organize with students from other
schools and build a worldwide movement of students fighting to retain and
expand public education,” said a student who withheld their name, fearing
university reprisals. “The police attack only makes us angrier.”


UC Berkeley students arrested in campus protest Dec. 11, 2009

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP)– Police on Friday arrested 65 protesters inside a
classroom building that was partially taken over for several days at the
University of California, Berkeley.

Students occupied areas of Wheeler Hall as part of a demonstration against
state funding cuts that have led to course cutbacks, faculty furloughs and
sharp fee increases.

The protesters, who occupied the building since Monday, had said they
would leave Friday night.

But early Friday, police entered the building and arrested 65 people,
including about 24 who were not students, said UC Berkeley spokesman Dan
Mogulof. The protesters face misdemeanor trespassing charges.

Another person was arrested outside and faces a charge of inciting.

Police decided to take action after protesters began breaking into locked
classrooms and publicizing an all-night hip-hop party Friday.

"A peaceful protest is one thing, but it was becoming something altogether
different," Mogulof said. "The red line for us is when these actions begin
to interfere with the rights of other students."

No major damage was reported at Wheeler Hall. Classes were scheduled to be
held there Friday.

Student protesters said they were caught off-guard by the raid and
complained the police had not warned them.

"Police burst in while people were sleeping and immediately started
locking doors and arresting people," Elias Martinez, an undergraduate
political science major, said in a statement. "There had been cops in here
all week, they were acting like it was OK. We had no idea."

On Thursday at San Francisco State University, police arrested a dozen
people who had barricaded themselves inside a classroom building to
protest budget cuts and fee hikes.

The two incidents are the latest in a series of demonstrations in which
students have taken over buildings at California State University and
University of California campuses to protest campus cuts and rising fees