(Image Source: Daily Californian)
BY EMOKE BEBIAK
ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO
An offshoot of the Occupy California movement turned violent at UC Berkeley on Wednesday. A confrontation between students and the police was caught on video and posted on YouTube.
The number of protesters reached about 1,000 on Wednesday. Contra Costa Times explains the circumstances of the clash...
“After warning protesters that camping at the university is illegal, officers moved in and shoved
demonstrators out of the way as they pushed toward the camp. Six UC Berkeley students and an associate professor were arrested; charges included resisting officers and failing to disperse.”
The Huffington Post reports UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau warned students against setting up camps. In an email, he told students...
“Any activities such as pulling fire alarms, occupying buildings, setting up encampments, graffiti, or other destructive actions that disrupt with anyone's ability to conduct regular activities -- go to class, study, carry out their research, etc. -- will not be tolerated.”
Despite the warning, the protesters voted to set up tents.
A student tells San Francisco’s ABC affiliate how to police reacted to that...
Student: “And they tried to keep us back, and we tried to hold our ground, when that failed, they repeatedly used their batons to hit us in the stomach.”
Reporter: “Let me see...”
Student: “They got that, they... they were hitting people’s arms repeatedly”
Another student tells the San Francisco Chronicle the violence shows the power of the movement...
"Police don't usually act violently the first day of a camp going up... This just shows us how afraid they are of the Occupy movement."
The news magazine In These Times explains, with the national student loan debt hitting $1 trillion, the Occupy movement obviously inspired students...
“Spreading unrest among young, college-age students shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying the least amount of attention to the nation's economic woes. With astronomical youth unemployment and ballooning student debt, it's no wonder young people everywhere are on the verge of rioting.”
The students gathered at UC Berkeley’s Upper Sproul Plaza, which has been a famous location for student protests since the 1960’s.
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