Walled out of People’s Park, protesters take to the Berkeley streets

BERKELEY — With People’s Park successfully walled off by a fortress of following an overnight hostile takeover, activists lost the base that for years had served as the heart of organizing efforts and community aid. Instead, community members showed up on Friday to the nearby Amoeba Music at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street, which one activist on the scene, Aiden Hill — a Food Not Bombs volunteer and former vice chair of Berkeley’s Homeless Commission — found to be a good metaphor for the People’s Park protest movement, since amoebas move freely and alter their shape.

Hill, who helped to man tables stocked with free resources like water, juice, fruit, bagels, socks and rain ponchos, said the streets are a fine alternative venue for those protesting UC Berkeley’s housing plan for the park. By sundown, the crowd had grown to more than a hundred people gathered for both a community Shabbat service as well as a scheduled concert.

Many of those who gathered said they are anticipating that demonstrations will soon extend three blocks north to Sproul Plaza — the bustling hub of campus for decades of political, religious and social activists. But until UC Berkeley students return to campus for the first day of spring semester on Tuesday, Hill said the activists already on the ground will have no trouble keeping the momentum alive following Thursday’s overnight takeover of People’s Park.

“We’re not waiting for anyone — we are the people,” Hill said. “Now our only alternative is to either take the ‘Ave,’ which has always been the case, or take Sproul. Looking at the history of People’s Park, it wasn’t just about the park. It never was. It was about being able to help people.” Shortly after midnight Thursday, hundreds of law enforcement officials outfitted in riot gear were deployed by the university to push out activists occupying the 2.8 acre park, which had unofficially served as an outdoor home for a number of unhoused people and gathering place for other residents nearby.

Police were met with a heated throng of protesters. At least six people were arrested early Thursday morning for trespassing or refusing to follow dispersal orders, and some were taken to Santa Rita Jail, according to university officials and community members. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said the decision was necessary because “some of the project’s opponents previously resorted to violence and vandalism,” according to a statement issued on Thursday.

She cited support for the $312 million project from students, community members, unhoused advocates and elected officials in Berkeley, as well as state legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom. If completed, the new buildings would house 1,100 students and roughly 100 currently homeless people who regularly camp at the park, while maintaining 60% of the property as open space, according to the university.

Angry protesters lingered for several hours after the midnight move, forced to only stand and watch behind police barricades that blocked off the surrounding streets. Abigail Rangel, a fourth year UC Berkeley student, followed Thursday night’s commotion on Instagram and through word of mouth with friends.

While she’d heard previous, generic calls to action, she finally felt comfortable trekking down to Telegraph Avenue by herself on Friday after seeing organized events shared online. “There’s power in numbers,” Rangel said. “I guess I’m trying to help raise awareness just by being another body here.” Activists and many community members vehemently oppose the development currently proposed for the site, advocating instead for the entire plot of land to be preserved as a park.

A state appeals court in 2023, ruling that UC Berkeley failed to adequately address environmental concerns. Specifically, the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco reprimanded UC officials for not analyzing how much noise might be generated by the hundreds of students that would move into the housing project.

According to UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the California Supreme Court has yet to set oral arguments for the case. Once those conclude, the court will issue its ruling within 90 days, and that ruling would become final another 30 days later. While construction plans remain frozen until the Supreme Court of California weighs in on that lawsuit — first filed in 2021 — university officials decided to move forward and create a “secure perimeter” of the property with double stacked shipping containers and barbed wire.

Mogulof said they are simply enforcing the site’s “legal status as a closed construction zone.” While People’s Park remained cordoned off by police during that work, Hill said there is no “too late” when it comes to activism on the issue. “When you take a public, civic space away from a community, the only thing that they can do is take the streets or buildings in that community that would otherwise be unoccupied,” Hill said.

“That’s kind of just what’s happening — people are finding a way to connect. Hill said his advice to those who oppose the development of People’s Park would be, “Lean into the discomfort. You’re here now, be ‘Berkeley’ now. If you’re here with people who are fighting with you, start asking, ‘What are we going to do next?’”.