The Police
The police were everywhere. 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 one time, you were never sure whether you were safe, about to be shot at with wooden bullets, or arrested.
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, sometimes harrassing people, sometimes asking for ID....
I'm about to be asked what the fuck I'm doing with my camera, and why don't I just go home and forget about going shopping today. When I persist I'm asked to show my ID. It's noted down.
One of the police chiefs involved in the occupation denounced the protestors as faceless outsiders hiding behind the mask of civil rights....
Something about these guys' posture and stance reminded me of a long-forgotten old Dutch painting of a bunch of Good 16th Century Burghers in the field....
Berkeley police officer playing ball Saturday afternoon. Several protestors started playing volleyball in the street; the ball ended up hitting one of the cops. It was all good humour for the following 20 minutes or so until another mini protest broke out, ending in rubber bullets and arrests....
Lurkers. These guys were typically friendly, hamming it up for the camera, etc., as long as their boss wasn't around (see the sergeant in the other Bank Of America photo above...).
More lurkers, outside Headlines. Mostly harmless when in larger groups like this away from the action.
The police Friday night during a particularly chaotic protest ranging from Shattuck Avenue all the way to Piedmont and Bancroft. This little adventure led to some nasty work by a bunch of out-of-town cops, ending in the beating of a video cameraman in front of several hundred witnesses (His sin? To be pushed from behind into a no go area). Berkeley police managed to restore control and put the responsible cop out of harm's way... it's less clear what happened to the cameraman.
Lone cop about to tell me I can't go any further down Telegraph. It's not clear why -- there's no protests or anything going on at that particular time -- but I'm already sick of being asked who I am and why I'm on Telegraph... I live here dammit; what's he doing here? Where does he live?
