At the Occupy Cal general assembly held Tuesday night on the UC Berkeley campus, protesters voted to set up an encampment in the style of the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Oakland tent-cities both of which have been forcibly dismantled by authorities this week.
The vote to establish a camp was passed by 1,267 people according to the Daily Californian reporting on Twitter.
UC Berkeley administration issued a statement last week saying it would not tolerate an encampment. When tents were erected on the last day of action, on Wednesday November 9th, attempts to remove them by police resulted in violent confrontations.
According to reporters on the ground, tents were being erected immediately after the vote was announced, just after 8:00pm. Concurrently, UC Berkeley professor of public policy and former U.S. secretary of labor Robert Reich had begun delivering the annual Mario Savio Memorial Lecture on Sproul Plaza.
In his afternoon press conference on the Haas School shooting, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau reiterated that the administration would allow “no encampment”. “If any of you reported on the trees which we had for 19 months,” he said, “we don’t want to repeat that experience.” Tree sitters occupied a stand of oaks outside Memorial Stadium for 19 months in 2006-08 in an attempt to stop building of the Student-Athlete High Performance Center.
Related:
Shaken Cal Chancellor recalls Kent State, Virginia Tech [11.15.11]
Shooting at Cal Haas School of Business [11.15.11]
Rally begins after teach-ins at Occupy Cal Day of Action [11.15.11]
After Oakland eviction, focus shifts to UC Berkeley [11.14.11]
Councilmember’s open letter re. police force on campus [11.12.11]
Police use of force at Occupy Cal gets national attention [11.11.11]
Occupy Cal arrests total 40 as protesters plan next moves [11.10.11]
After protests and arrests, calm returns to Cal campus [11.10.11]
Protesters vote to set up Occupy Cal camp at UC Berkeley [11.09.11]
