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Cal Mulls Removing Tents
Updated Nov. 16, 2011 at 12:55 p.m.
Occupy Cal tents in UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza on Nov. 16, 2011.
UC Berkeley was calm Wednesday morning, with less than 100 Occupy Cal protesters left on the steps of Sproul Hall, the site of Tuesday night’s rally that drew thousands of people.
Around 9:30 a.m Wednesday, a UC police officer used a megaphone to warn a few dozen protesters that it is illegal to camp, pitch tents or possess camping gear on campus. Protesters said it was the fourth or fifth such warning since the tents went up Tuesday night. While the announcements and rumors of police staging nearby in riot gear in the early morning hours Wednesday fueled concerns of a possible raid, no police action materialized.
Occupy Cal demonstrators voted overwhelmingly Tuesday night to set up tents on UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza, in defiance of campus policy. More than 1,260 people voted in favor of the proposal.
Immediately after the vote, demonstrators began pitching tents.
Occupy Cal protesters at Sproul Plaza the night of Nov. 15, 2011
On Wednesday, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau refused to comment when asked if he would allow the tents to remain.
Tuesday night, UC police Lieut. Alex Yao would not say who would decide whether to remove the tents. He would also not say how officers might oust protesters, but did say campus police would "consider all options."
After last week's protests, videos posted on YouTube and other sites showed officers striking protesters with batons. On Monday, Birgeneau ordered two separate investigations into the tactics police used at last week's protest. Birgeneau also granted amnesty to the students arrested for attempting to prevent the removal of tents.
Protesters gather over a large sign during a student strike on the UC Berkeley campus on Nov. 15, 2011.
As demonstrators began marching to downtown Berkeley Tuesday afternoon, UC police responded to reports of a man with a gun at the Haas School of Business. Officers located the man, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, in a computer lab. The man brandished a weapon, then police told him to drop the gun, before one officer shot him.
The man, an undergraduate who had recently transferred to UC Berkeley, died at Highland Hospital Tuesday night, campus officials said Wednesday.
Police said there did not appear to be any connection between the shooting and the Occupy protests.
The last shooting on the Cal campus occurred in the 1980s, according to university police.
At a press briefing Wednesday, U.C. Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said, “It’s a very challenging time. It helps put in perspective all of the other challenges we are dealing with.”
Protesters wave banners and signs in front of UC Berkeley's Sproul Hall during a student strike on Nov. 15, 2011.
Tuesday morning, some professors held classes in the plaza to show their support for the Occupy movement.
Around noon Tuesday, near the steps of Sproul Hall, a group of students calling itself Mockupy Cal, cordoned off an area with red ribbon. The students, donning high-society society attire and expensive-looking jewelry, invited protesters to "join the 1 percent," by stepping into the square and enjoying hors d'oeuvres and sparkling cider. One person dining at "UC VIP Luncheon," as it was called, yelled to Occupy Cal protesters: "Join the 1 percent! It's the most fabulous percent!"
Tuesday night, protesters heard a very different message from Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the university and the former U.S. Secretary of Labor. Reich delivered the Mario Savio memorial lecture from the steps of Sproul Hall. Savio was one of the leaders of the Free Speech Movement, which began at Cal in 1964.
"We are losing equal opportunity in America," Reich said. "We are losing the moral foundation stone on which this country and our democracy are built."
Here's a video of the final tally being read at General Assembly:
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voltairesmistress
The last thing the UC Berkeley campus needs is a tent city. The campus is a perfect place, however, to hold daily protests, teach-ins, etc. Why don't the Occupy protesters try something else that's positive, informative, and welcoming for like-minded people? There is no way I would head for a tent-city protest like Oakland's. But I would attend other, less dangerous protests many times.
The Occupy movement needs launch another tactic, one that does not attract a strong criminal element. Otherwise, the criminals and professional homeless folks of the East Bay will simply move themselves from Oakland to Berkeley's campus.
Paul-Kealoha Blake
I see these concerns expressed in different ways, but they all seem directed at the inconvenience that the homeless and criminals bring to the Occupation. In our world there are criminals and there is a growing population of homeless. They are part of the 99% that the one percent is attempting to extinguish.
The burden to cope with these issues always seems to be the responsibility of the Occupy Movement.
Why?
We are Occupying specifically to demand that the 1% take some responsibility for the great and growing economic disparity that directly impacts the very demographic that you find uncomfortable.
The Occupy Movement doesn't have to launch another tactic. Wall Street needs to change. We have changed, we have lost our homes, our health, our jobs, our families, and our lives. One tactic is to Occupy. This tactic should be unrelentingly pursued.... while other tactics are being born and implemented. If you are uncomfortable Occupying then don't... do what you can.
We are directing the need to change to Wall Street. Let them make the change, they have the resources and infrastructure to make a significant difference regarding both homelessness as well as crime.
"Michelle Kohlhaas"
Well said, Mr. Blake.
It seems terribly odd that so much soi-disant "law enforcement" has been focused on the Occupiers.
Where is the law enforcement and policing of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup?
How is "law enforcement" dealing with the abuses of Oakland and SF police? Specifically, why has SFPD retained Officer Ricardo Guerrero, who "earned" $683,000 in taxpayer money for a mere three years' work (2007,'08, '09)?