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Sep 06
in Events 0 comments tags: Berkeley, History, People's Park

The Occupation: Berkeley People’s Park, 1991 (Part 2 – The Police)

The Occupation: The Police

(Part 2 of a four-part series; previous: Background; next: The People).

 

The police were everywhere around People’s Park. Berkeley police; Livermore police; the Highway Patrol; Albany, Richmond, Oakland police; the Alameda County tactical response squad — all with something to prove. The out-of-town cops seemed predictably vicious, out to kick some of that supposedly soft Berkeley ass (all those hippies! all those punks! — it must have seemed like cop heaven at times) and show the Berkeley cops how to really put down a riot. The Berkeley police (who’d lost control during the first hours of the riots) seemed bent on proving that their mixture of firmness and reasonably good-humoured tolerance would finally work.

Once the police worked out what was happening (late Friday night, I suspect), they started using a bunch of unnerving strategies and tactics. In particular, they’d suddenly issue ambiguous orders or signals about which side of the road (for example) was OK and which was not, then almost immediately arrest anyone on what they determined was the wrong side — without giving people any time to understand the orders, let alone get across to the right side. What constituted the right side was almost always quite inscrutable or arbitrary. The obvious intention was to make even spectators liable to arrest, in an attempt to keep crowds away — in effect, to make it plain that they considered that there were no innocent bystanders any more (despite the residents and shoppers trying to get around).

Combined with the sudden changes in direction and tactics used, this was very effective — at any particular time, you were never sure whether you were safe, about to be shot at with wooden bullets, or arrested, or just politely asked to stay off the sidewalk or something.

During the times when there were no protests or riots (most of the rest of the week), the police just lurked, mostly watching the world go by, often enough with good humour and a certain amused tolerance, but also sometimes harrassing people, sometimes asking for ID… the trouble was, you never knew ahead of time which attititude you’d encounter.

But for all that, it was difficult to miss that the police are human too — with all the good and bad that implies.

 

The Occupation: Faceless

One of the police chiefs involved in the occupation denounced the protestors as faceless outsiders hiding behind the mask of civil rights….

 

I'm about to be asked for ID; it's noted down.

I’m about to be asked for ID; it’s noted down.

 

Telegraph Avenue boarded up during the 1991 Berkeley People's Park riots

Go Home

 

Officer Owen ,BPD, during the Berkeley People's Park riots, 1991.

Officer Owen, BPD. Nice guy, actually.

 

Police officers lurking on Telegraph Avenue during the Berkeley People's Park riots, 1991

Lurkers, lurking amiably on Telegraph

 

Telegraph and Dwight during the Berkeley People's Park riots, 1991.

Telegraph and Dwight

 

Telegraph Avenue during the Berkeley People's Park riots, 1991.

Lone cop about to tell me I can’t go any further down Telegraph.

 

BPD officer actually having fun between demonstrations.

Play Ball! BPD officer (and crowd) actually having fun.

 

Five police officers on Telegraph Avenue during the Berkeley People's Park riots, 1991.

Five police officers on Telegraph.

 

Telegraph Avenue during the People's Park riots, Berkeley 1991

I really, really (really) wanted this Alameda Police officer to buy some earrings or something, but he didn’t.

 

Teegraph and Haste during the People's Park riots, Berkeley 1991

Sax player approaching police officers on Telegraph.

 

Haste and Telegraph during the People's Park riots, Berkeley 1991

The sax player managed to get as far as Haste before the police stopped him.

 

A gaggle of police officers hanging around outside Shakespeare & Co

A gaggle of police officers hanging around outside Shakespeare & Co

 

The thin blue line, Telegraph and Dwight.

The thin blue line, Telegraph and Dwight.

 

Livermore Police officer on Telegraph.

Livermore Police officer on Telegraph.

 

Next »

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About the Author: Hamish Reid
Hamish Reid is a photographer and videographer living in the Jingletown district of Oakland, California. He is Hamish Reid Photography on Facebook.


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