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Police violently beat and arrest community members at Berkeley City Council meeting

by Mohamed Shehk
On Tuesday, June 20, Berkeley police officers violently cracked down on community members opposed to Berkeley’s participation in Urban Shield at special hearing of the city council. Two people were arrested, and multiple people were injured, with an elderly Berkeley resident bleeding from the head after being struck by a police officer. The two arrestees have been cited and released.
sm_brookanderson-berkeley-urbanshield1.jpg
[Photo by Brooke Anderson]


Over 500 advocates and Berkeley residents, including former mayor of Berkeley Gus Newport, packed the room to show their support for withdrawing the city from the controversial and highly militarized Urban Shield SWAT training and weapons expo, providing hours of community testimony about the harms, racism, and dangers of the program. After hearing from hundreds of community members opposed to Urban Shield and Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, the mayor attempted to rush and confuse the vote. In this moment, community members took nonviolent action to uphold the democratic process, displaying a banner with the "Stop Urban Shield" message that was overwhelmingly supported. Without proper warning, police responded with aggressive force and arrested two community members and subsequently caused head injuries to two others.

“The way the police responded to a show of nonviolent protest speaks volumes to the reasons why we need to end programs like Urban Shield that promote militarization and violence,” said Ellen Brotsky, a Berkeley resident and member of the Stop Urban Shield Coalition. “The Berkeley police chief spent much of the meeting talking about how his police department is skilled in de-escalation, yet what we saw is police officers quickly escalate against Berkeley communities. They showed their true colors of repressing protest and escalation, which is why we need a withdrawal from Urban Shield that will only make these worse.”

“The violence exercised by the Berkeley Police Department on Tuesday night testifies exactly to why we must end Urban Shield,” said Katie Loncke of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, who sustained a head injury from police. “It is a small taste of the militarized mindset that Urban Shield encourages, and the consequent brutality faced daily by Black, Brown, and poor communities in the Bay Area.”

The use of force against peaceful demonstration is being investigated by civil rights lawyers as Berkeley Police recently resolved a legal matter prohibiting these types of violent crowd control tactics. Despite community witnesses, a representative of the Berkeley Police Department stated "we do not have info on a victim that was allegedly struck by baton," dismissing multiple accounts and photographs of police violence.

“The nonviolent action we took that night was necessary to ensure democratic process. For simply holding a banner, the police exercised extreme force against me without warning, spraining my wrist, elbow, and shoulder,” said Dylan Cooke, a member of the Stop Urban Shield who testified on Tuesday to her past experience as a medic responding to militarized police violence, including at Standing Rock.

“For a moment during the council meeting, the motion to withdraw city participation from Urban Shield and to create a task force to look into alternatives was the clear and reasonable option for councilmembers to take, one that would have been amenable to everyone. Yet that motion was quickly and undemocratically abandoned,” said Isaac Ontiveros of the Stop Urban Shield Coalition. “The sensible path for the council is to revisit and support that motion.”

The following day, at least 168 emails and phone calls throughout that day were received by the Mayor and City Clerk's office demanding a new vote on Urban Shield. Community members, the Stop Urban Shield coalition, and civil rights attorneys will continue to pursue legal and civic action to uphold democratic process in Berkeley and ensure a re-vote.

On June 22, the City of Berkeley decided to uphold the largely contested and undemocratic vote by the Mayor and City Council on the city's participation in the controversial Urban Shield program. The vote allowing Berkeley Fire and Police Departments to participate in Urban Shield activities is being questioned as a possible violation of the Brown Act based on a number of violations, with the notable civil rights law firm Siegel & Yee having submitted a formal "Cure and Correct" letter Wednesday. The letter argues that the Mayor discussed the proposed agenda items with a majority of council members prior to the vote, did not provide the public or council members with a clear proposal prior to the vote, and that the vote was not completed or heard by the members of the public due to the peaceful protest that erupted during the attempted vote.
§Stop Urban Shield
by Mohamed Shehk
sm_brookanderson-berkeley-urbanshield2.jpg
Photo by Brooke Anderson
§Arrest
by Mohamed Shehk
sm_brookanderson-berkeley-urbanshield3.jpg
Photo by Brooke Anderson
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Register Peace & Freedom or Green
The Democrats and Republicans are the twin parties of war and fascism, and this support of fascism at home, the police state, is proof of this reality. You can see in the votes at http://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/06/21/outcry-arrests-berkeley-city-council-votes-stick-urban-shield/
that private greed came before public need among these bourgeois Babbitts, all Democrats. There were 4 votes:

1. One vote was 8 to 1 to support Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI), an equipment and training grant program funded by the Department of Homeland Security (the Gestapo). UASI also funds Urban Shield.

2. The Urban Shield vote was 6-2-1 in favor of continuing BPD and BFD participation in the federally-funded regional training exercises.

3. The vote was 7 to 2 to purchase an armored van. For more on this profound waste of our tax dollars, and promotion of a police state, see http://www.berkeleyside.com/2016/12/20/armored-van-for-berkeley-police-sparks-council-controversy/

4. The council also voted 5-4 to continue BPD’s relationship with the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), which shares criminal data among local, state and federal agencies.

As we can see from the following, the Democrats, as with the Republicans, support the lie of terrorism rather than the police state being the problem. They also support the government's lie on the 9/11 Inside Job, the American Reichstag Fire, perpetrated by the capitalist class, with the military, including the US military base, Israel, doing the dirty work. All subsequent bombings and massacres have also been Inside Jobs, for the purpose of continuing to promote fascism at home to prevent labor organizing so as to maximize profits at home, while maximizing profits abroad, especially oil and munitions profits, the only reason the military exists. For more on the 9/11 Inside Job, see:

DVD that is a Must See at http://loosechange911.com/

Youtube Movies: 9/11 In a Nutshell, by James Corbett: 5 minutes says it all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs_quLjUHwM

10 Disturbing 9/11 Facts: 6 minutes at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnht6NCDtJI

The quote is:

"“I want to be absolutely clear that Urban Shield is an Islamophobic and racist program,” said Sharif Zakout, an organizer with the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, during public comment. The Urban Shield program was developed in response to 9/11 and the War On Terror, he said. Others said the program’s affiliation with the Department of Homeland Security and Sheriff Gregory Ahearn, who is a vocal fan of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, should be reason enough for Berkeley to withdraw."

Berkeley is a Democratic Party stronghold. The Democratic Party, like the Republican Party, proudly promote war abroad and fascism, the police state, at home, to maximize profits for the capitalist class they serve. If you want an end to war and fascism, change your voter registration today to Peace & Freedom or Green. You can register online for either one of these 2 pro-peace, pro-labor, pro-environment parties at https://covr.sos.ca.gov/?language=en-US
For more information, see:
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/
http://www.cagreens.org/
http://www.gp.org/
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