Middle East Protest Rocks UC Berkeley

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>From: portsideMod at netscape.net
>Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 15:57:29 -0400
>Subject: Middle East Protest Rocks UC Berkeley
>
>Daily Californian
>University of California at Berkeley
>
>Activists Hold Wheeler Under Siege 
>Regents' Involvement With Israel Protested 
>
>by STEVE SEXTON & LALLY REZAYANI
>Contributing Writers
>Wednesday
>April 25, 2001
>
>Thirty-two protesters decrying UC business ties to Israel were 
>arrested yesterday after barring access to Wheeler Hall during a 
>six-hour demonstration. Locking all but three of the 12 doors to the 
>building with chains and linking arms to block the three open 
>entrances, activists disrupted classes to protest the UC Board of 
>Regents' involvement with companies working in Israel.
>
>UCPD ended the demonstration at 6 p.m. after the protesters nearly 
>closed off the building for the entire afternoon. With a team of 30 
>officers, police pulled students and community members from the 
>doorways they were blocking, telling people trying to enter the 
>building that it was "occupied."
>
>The protesters were cited one by one in the lobby of the building, 
>where police had established a booking station, before being 
>released.
>
>UC police Capt. Bill Cooper said the university has not seen a 
>protest of this magnitude since ethnic studies supporters locked 
>down Barrows Hall in 1998.
>
>The demonstrators continued to block the three doorways as police 
>made arrests at two of them. Students and faculty entered the 
>building through a door guarded by officers.
>
>Police removed the chains from doors, as they presented a fire 
>hazard and potential code violation, said acting campus fire 
>marshall Dennis Mueting.
>
>While the bulk of police action took place inside the building's 
>lobby and entrances, speakers rallied on the steps in front of the 
>building.
>
>"We chose Wheeler because it's geographically strategic," said Noura 
>Erakat, a junior majoring in developmental studies who was arrested. 
>"While (in Palestine) I saw how just because I had an American 
>passport, I had more privileges. It is seeing post-colonial 
>textbooks come to life."
>
>Activists proclaimed the need for an end to Israeli occupation of 
>Palestine and the need for the UC system to rid itself of any 
>indirect involvement in the turmoil in the Middle East, which has 
>resulted in thousands of deaths.
>
>"Now it's largely a symbolic action, in solidarity with Palestine," 
>said Snehal Shingavi, who was given a citation by police for 
>obstructing the doorway.
>Shingavi said the protesters were using their "critical thinking 
>tools" to pressure the UC Regents to divest the university system 
>from such companies as Nokia, General Electric, and Hewlett Packard 
>- all of which have heavy ties in Israel.
>
>"It's really disgusting that they are willing to do this to people 
>protesting peacefully," he said.
>
>The protesters, most of whom are members of Students for Justice in 
>Palestine, said they knew they could be arrested if they blocked 
>people from entering the building at all of the doors. But with a 
>40-person team, the protesters spanned out and blocked the few doors 
>not chained shut, telling those trying to get in to "turn around and 
>ask your regents to negotiate."
>
>Some students pushed their way through demonstrators at the doorway, 
>while others climbed through first-story windows to get to class and 
>others turned away.
>
>Several classes were canceled because of the demonstration, but 
>Professor David Presti went forward with his Molecular and Cell 
>Biology 61 midterm in the interest of fairness to the 600 students 
>in the class, he said.
>
>The demonstration began at 12 p.m. under Sather Gate and then 
>proceeded to Wheeler Hall - one of the largest teaching facilities 
>on campus.
>
>Police stood watch throughout the event - the second anti-investment 
>rally on campus this year.
>
>Marie Felde, a UC Berkeley spokesperson, said as education is the 
>mission of the campus, the university would take action if access to 
>the building was prohibited.
>
>Police presence increased gradually throughout the day.
>
>Amid picket signs and chants of "we must divest now," Near Eastern 
>studies professor Daniel Boyarin said he agreed with the message of 
>the protest. "I am not a rabble-rouser or cheerleader, but the only 
>hope we have is to get our university to divest," he said through a 
>megaphone.
>
>Will Youmans, one of the demonstration organizers, said the regents 
>have ignored their request to divest.
>
>"When we proposed to the UC Regents to divest from Israel, we gave 
>them a deadline -- April 22," Youmans said. "The situation in 
>Palestine is getting exponentially worse for Palestinians. The 
>Palestinian death toll is rising at the hands of the Israeli army."
>
>Members of the Israeli Action Committee were also present, beginning 
>at 10 a.m., to counter "the rhetoric" from the protesters.
>
>"Most of these people are for a Palestinian state, but when they 
>come out here and call Zionists racists, we feel the need to 
>protest," said Mark Rosenberg, a member of the committee.
>
>Richard Cain, who watched the demonstration, said he thought the 
>protest was misguided.
>
>"I think they want to pick something to attack, and the university 
>is an easy target," he said. "To me it doesn't do much good to 
>scream and yell about Hewlett Packard."
>
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