Police have moved in to end the hunger strike at the University of California Berkeley. The hunger strikers are protesting Arizona’s recently passed immigration law.
We’ll get more details as they emerge.
Update 7:07 a.m. The police are ordering the strikers to disperse. The strikers are being told that they will be arrested if they don’t end the strike. The police have blocked off the area in front of California Hall, where the hunger strikers are gathered.
Update 7:25 a.m. Hunger strike organizers have called for a rally in support at 9 a.m.
Update 7:42 a.m. Callie Maidhof, who seems to be the go-to tweeter on the hunger strike, writes that the sprinklers are about to be turned on, which would soak the strikers. Her comment: “Gardening as counterinsurgency?”
Update 8:55 a.m. Callie Maidhof reports that UC workers refused to turn the sprinklers on the protesters. Vice-chancellor George Breslauer has emailed the entire UC Berkeley community with an official explanation of why the administration decided to end the hunger strike. It’s for the “health and safety” of the hunger strikers, he writes.
