Police spoke with people outside the downtown Berkeley Post Office on Monday evening. Photo: Ted Friedman
Police spoke with people outside the downtown Berkeley Post Office on Monday evening. Photo: Ted Friedman

The protesters at the downtown Berkeley Post Office who had been camping on site to fight the proposed sale of the building have left the area, but the official account from police has been disputed by some involved activists.

Twitter user abpaine said this photograph shows "Police taking down post office encampment in downtown" on Wednesday night. Photo: abpaine
Twitter user abpaine said this photograph shows “Police taking down post office encampment in downtown” on Wednesday night. Photo: abpaine

A statement posted on the Berkeley Post Office Defense website said its encampment was “raided” at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday “by a combination of Postal Police and Berkeley PD (directly subverting the will of the citizens of Berkeley).” According to the statement, a rally was planned for the morning, and a general assembly meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m.

According to a post by a community member on the group’s Facebook page, “The details are the occupants were told they would be arrested after they received notice of trespass…. So most of them vacated the site yesterday, while 4 remained.”

Berkeley Police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer Coats said Thursday afternoon that local officers have been working with U.S. Postal Service police “handing out warning fliers” to let activists know they could be arrested for trespassing on the property if they refused to leave.

She said “they decided to leave on their own” Wednesday night.

Coats said via email at about 4:15 p.m. Thursday that “It is my understanding the few people that were there last night left on their own. BPD went and collected what appeared to be abandoned property. Anyone that was there was left alone along with any property that was being claimed. The property that was collected has been booked for safekeeping. There were no arrests associated with the clearing of the property.”

No further information was available from police.

Activists tell a different story

Said Twitter user Strike Debt Bay Area: "The Berkeley Post Office Camp has been raided. BPD execute the orders of 1% Privatizers." Photo: Strike Debt Bay Area
Said Twitter user Strike Debt Bay Area: “The Berkeley Post Office Camp has been raided. BPD execute the orders of 1% Privatizers.” Photo: Strike Debt Bay Area

Some activists involved with the post office protest said the Berkeley Police Department is not telling the whole story. They said authorities came in while many of the protesters were attending another event in Oakland, and made arrests and confiscated property.

A poster on the Save the Berkeley Post Office Facebook page wrote that she went by the post office at 11:40 a.m. Thursday to check her mail, “and I saw that the US Postal Police are all over the place and there were pressure hoses, and the tents and tables of the Save the Post Office encampment are gone.”