Protests are not an uncommon phenomenon in Berkeley, especially in recent news. Just two weeks ago hundreds of Berkeley students were demonstrating to protest the rising tuition hikes approved of by the UC Board of Regents. Likewise, protests against police brutality cases across the country have been a present force on campus, particularly the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York.
November 24th marked the day many protestors feared but sadly found predictable: A St. Louis county grand jury decided now former police officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for fatally shooting Michael Brown. Then, on December 3rd, another grand jury declared they too would not bring criminal charges against the white police officer whose chokehold on Eric Garner, captured on video, led to his death.
As FiveThirtyEight reported, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, out of the 162,000 federal cases prosecuted in 2010, grand juries declined to return an indictment in 11 of them. This statistics does not apply to state grand juries, as in Ferguson and Staten Island, but the point remains: These lack of indictments are a rare occurrence, and people see this.
Thus, the protests in Oakland from last weekend, and, as of last night, December 7th, Berkeley emerge. What began at around 5PM as a peaceful protests connected to the Brown and Garner cases marching down Telegraph Ave. towards Oakland with police observation became violent as tear gas and “flash bangs” were deployed by police in riot gear by around 10PM.
Protesters, bystanders and “splinter groups” (as described by police) that vandalized and looted various vehicles and businesses were told by megaphone that the demonstration on Telegraph Ave. was an “unlawful assembly.
Multiple injuries were reported throughout the night, and the crowds had largely dispersed by 3AM.
Whether this is an isolated event, or a demonstration that will be part of a greater movement in Berkeley and on campus, is still unclear. The messages from both sides are clear: