Dozens of people continue to protest more than 16 hours after UC Berkeley entered People’s Park late Wednesday night with law enforcement officers, allowing construction crews to start building a wall around the park by double-stacking metal shipping containers to make way for a student housing project.
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Live updates: Berkeley police arrest 5 People’s Park protesters Thursday afternoon
Cal is fencing off the historic park as a case to build student housing there moves through the state Supreme Court.
A large presence of California Highway Patrol, University of California police, and private security guards surrounded the park through Thursday, as workers used forklifts to install the containers and others dismantled 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.
About 50 activists gathered at the park shortly after midnight as screams of “Cops! Cops!” rang out. About 100 UC police officers in riot gear emerged from vans and rushed to the center of the park, where activists were occupying a community kitchen structure and treehouse.
Crews immediately began chainsawing the treehouse’s ladder, its physical connection to the kitchen, and dismantling the kitchen with axes and saws as activists yelled, “Do you know how many people that kitchen feeds?”
UC spokesperson Dan Mogulof, who was on the scene, shared a university statement confirming fencing plans previously reported by Berkeleyside and the Daily Californian. He said police arrested seven people who face misdemeanor allegations of trespassing, with two also being charged with failure to disperse.
UC Berkeley police kept a close perimeter around the treehouse and kitchen between midnight and 3 a.m. while continuing to tear apart the structure. Alameda County sheriff’s officials and the California Highway Patrol were also on the scene, barricading roadway entrances to the park on Haste and Bowditch streets, Dwight Way and Telegraph Avenue. Police initially prevented journalists from entering the park, but some were later allowed inside with a university escort.
Law enforcement officers told people encamped in the park that they had to leave and were offered storage and a ride to the winter drop-in shelter. At least one person said they would voluntarily leave, and another refused. There were about 10 tents throughout the area before the park was shut down.
Vehicles on Dwight Way were towed despite no street notices before the clearing. The university said in its news release that cars could be reclaimed at the parking lot next to Edwards Stadium, and owners would receive a $100 gift card.
The area around the park is completely closed off to access. Residents must show ID with proof of residence to enter their neighborhood, according to people who live there.
At about 3:30 a.m., police shrunk the perimeter further and pushed out the remaining people protesting the closure. Three people occupying the treehouse voluntarily came down on a ladder after sheriff’s deputies guaranteed they would not be arrested. Deputies escorted them out of the park to Telegraph Avenue.
Crews began trucking shipping containers into the park immediately afterward, with lines of trucks hauling containers and cement reinforcements stretching east up College Avenue.
Activists tore down two sets of barricades at Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street, and UC police and additional law enforcement blocked the corner with a line of officers. By morning, the university had placed additional barricades locked to each other with handcuffs.
More than 100 people gathered for a 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.”
Doug Ross, 72, who grew up in Berkeley and currently lives in Richmond, said the park’s initial mission has run its course.
“It’s time as a political focal point has come and gone,” he said.
Standing from behind a metal barricade on Hillegass Avenue, Ross and his adult daughter watched, captivated, as the wall of shipping containers went up. Save for the occasional clangs of heavy machinery, the area was quiet as demonstrators were clustered two blocks over on Telegraph Avenue.
Ross said he supports UC Berkeley’s plans to build student housing, as “the need for housing and the need for homeless housing is more important than the political importance of People’s Park.”
But he also has mixed feelings. As a Berkeley High School student in the late ’60s, he and his friends helped lay down sod in the park. He also recalled witnessing the major 1969 People’s Park protest.
“The university’s in sort of a fix: It has a tendency, in my opinion, to be a little ham-handed when it’s dealt with this stuff,” Ross said. “I don’t know what else they could do. It just means to me that they’re very serious this time.”
Berkeley police said they arrested five people for attempting to remove the barricades at Dwight Way and Telegraph Avenue Thursday afternoon, one around 1 p.m. and four more around 4:30 p.m. BPD spokesperson Jessica Perry said the last four “resisted” arrest, and videos on social media showed officers tackling one protester from behind and fighting to pin others on the ground.
Opponents continue to rally support, but law enforcement has outnumbered protesters since the university’s action began. Activists believe UC Berkeley planned its latest action in the first week of January to avoid a large protest response like the one in August 2022, when the university first attempted to build on People’s Park after an Alameda County Superior Court judge cleared the way for construction to start.
UC Berkeley’s winter break started Dec. 15, and most Cal students will return to school next Tuesday.
In a lawsuit against the People’s Park project, plaintiffs said they’re reviewing whether UC Berkeley’s modifications to the park are legally allowed under a court order barring construction. Crews removed shrubbery in the park, chopped down trees around the perimeter, discarded items and bulldozed dirt to make vacant clearings. It’s unclear if this amounts to “construction.”
“We are not able to proceed with construction unless and until the court determines that the legal issues have been resolved,” Mogulof said earlier this week.
Alex N. Gecan, Iris Kwok, Nico Savidge, Ally Markovich and Zac Farber contributed to this story.
This story was updated with new information around 10 p.m.
