Protest begins at People’s Park after Cal blocks off site

Update, 1 p.m. Activists faced off with police at barricades set up on the blocks around People’s Park on Thursday, as they protested UC Berkeley’s move to block the open space with stacked shipping containers overnight.

Today’s developments are UC Berkeley’s latest attempt to close Berkeley’s historic People’s Park to build a 1,100-bed student housing project there. Cal is barred from starting construction at the park by an ongoing lawsuit in the state Supreme Court but is allowed to erect fencing.

There had been no arrests or uses of force by the large police presence at the demonstration as of 1 p.m., according to a UC Berkeley spokesperson.

More than 100 people gathered for the protest on Telegraph Avenue late Thursday morning, where they chanted and gave speeches vowing to continue their efforts to block the university’s plan to build student housing at the park. Dozens of law enforcement officers in body armor and helmets stood opposite them behind a metal barricade, while behind them workers in orange vests and hard hats continued building the shipping container wall.

“This is just the beginning,” activist Andrea Prichett told the crowd, which rallied next to a mural commemorating the history of demonstrations at the park. “We have to stay strong — this is going to be a long struggle.”

Several smaller groups of protesters split off from the demonstration and headed to some of the barricades police have set up barring all but residents from the blocks that surround the park. A handful of people dismantled a barricade along Regent Street at one point before moving on.

Meanwhile, inside the police perimeter, shipping containers surrounded the park on three sides by Thursday afternoon, and crews worked to move the barricades into place.

Update, Noon  A rally calling for opponents of UC Berkeley’s plan to build housing at People’s Park and protesting its closure is underway, with about 50 in attendance as a large contingent of law enforcement officers stand close by.

People were busy giving speeches and making posters.

On Thursday morning, Berkeley City College student Coco Rosos, sprawled out on a sidewalk on Telegraph Avenue and Dwight Way, said, “Even if they take away the park, the community is still going to last.”

Rosos, 21, who attended Berkeley public schools, described the park as a safe haven free from judgment. “They can’t get rid of the people — they still have to go somewhere.” 

Robert Gilmore, 26, who lives in Berkeley’s Northside neighborhood, said he opposes the university’s plans to turn the park into housing because the space encapsulates the essence of the Southside neighborhood. 

Gilmore was fond of the park’s garden, which he said was removed by workers early this morning, as it was one of his favorite places in Berkeley to watch bees, write and chat with park residents. But not all the interactions he’s had with people in the park have been positive, he said. He said he once was approached by an unhoused person who “threatened to sic his dogs on him,” but he still believes the park should be kept a free space.

“I think [the university’s] concern is not necessarily the well-being of the people living in the park,” Gilmore said. “It’s sanitizing this community, making it so that prospective students and other, you know, businesses or things making it more sanitized and safe.”

Protesters gather for rally

Update, 11 a.m. Protesters began gathering on Telegraph Avenue late Thursday morning ahead of a planned demonstration against UC Berkeley’s move to block off People’s Park.

Demonstrators called for people to assemble at Haste Street and Telegraph Avenue at 11 a.m. Dozens were gathered in front of a metal police barricade at the intersection ahead of the start of the protest.

There was a large law enforcement presence in the area, with California Highway Patrol officers in riot gear blocking off a perimeter of several blocks around the park. Several private security guards also lined Telegraph Avenue. 

Workers at the park, meanwhile, continued the project they began overnight to build a barrier made of stacked shipping containers along its perimeter.

Shipping containers form barrier around park

Update, 8 a.m. Construction crews continued working to block off People’s Park with a row of shipping containers as the sun rose Thursday morning, after law enforcement officers in riot gear cleared opponents of a planned student housing development from the area overnight.

A large presence of California Highway Patrol, University of California police and private security guards are surrounding the park, as workers use forklifts to double-stack the metal shipping containers along its perimeter and others dismantle structures within the public space. A UC Berkeley spokesperson said work to complete the barrier of around 150 containers could be completed by Saturday.

The move is the university’s latest attempt to close the historic park and build a 1,100-bed student housing project. The university is currently barred from starting construction at the park by an ongoing lawsuit in the state Supreme Court but is allowed to erect fencing.

The university says it also intends to build supportive housing at the park for formerly homeless residents, but those plans are in limbo after the affordable housing developer, Resources for Community Development, walked away from the contract in May.

No opponents of the development remain inside the park, but activists have planned a demonstration near the site for 11 a.m. Thursday.

Meanwhile, portions of Dwight Way, Haste Street, Channing Way, and Bowditch Street near the park are closed to traffic.

Police arrested seven people during the push to clear the park, which began just before midnight and continued through the early morning hours as crews felled trees and began building the perimeter.

Those arrested face misdemeanor allegations of trespassing, with two also being charged with failure to disperse, according to UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof, who said they were booked at the North County Jail in Oakland and released. Several other protesters who had sought to occupy the park agreed to leave voluntarily.

Mogulof declined to say how many law enforcement officers were present at the park, but said they included police from around the University of California and California State University systems, as well as California Highway Patrol, Alameda County Sheriff and San Francisco County Sheriff.