UC Berkeley ON TRIAL for
Brutalizing Peaceful Protesters
Wednesday, September 13th at 9 AM
Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, 95 – 7th St.,
San Francisco, CA
On SEPTEMBER 13, 2017, UC Berkeley and community protesters who were brutalized by the UC Police Department and the Alameda County Sheriffs during the Occupy Wall Street movement will argue their right to take the UC Berkeley administration to trial for the brutal attacks on student and community protesters that administrators ordered on November 9, 2011. This case will set a standard for protections of free speech to student protesters standing up for public education, and to defend DACA, all undocumented immigrant rights, and civil rights on college campuses across the nation. In the context of the growing movement of Resistance to remove Donald Trump and the leadership role of college students at Berkeley and throughout the nation, victory in this case is vital to protect the continued growth of the movement on college campuses and against administration directed police repression.
Background: On November 9, 2011, then-UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau sent in phalanxes of police from UCPD and the Alameda County Sheriffs to beat students attempting to set up tents to peacefully express support for the burgeoning Occupy movement at Cal: to fight for public education and oppose fee hikes, to make UC Berkeley a sanctuary campus, and to restore affirmative action at UC Berkeley and increase Latina/o, black, and Native American student enrollment. The shocking display of violence inflicted on peaceful protesters by the police, under orders of the UC Berkeley Chancellor and every top administrator, was caught on video and went viral within hours. After seeing the videos, thousands of students and community members in Berkeley and across the country mobilized, rallied, marched, and demanded that students never be subjected to that kind of heinous attack on campuses anywhere.
Twenty-two people represented by BAMN sued UC Berkeley administrators and the police, and in January 2016 at the District Court, won the right to put them on trial. This lawsuit has provided protection to student protests on the UC Berkeley campus and other college campuses for years. But now, UC Berkeley administrators are trying to get themselves dismissed from the case, despite thousands of pages of email evidence and hours of deposition testimony that show their direct responsibility for and knowledge of the police attack. They have filed an appeal to the 9th Court Federal Appeals Court to try to get out of the case which will be argued by both parties this Wednesday.
PICKET AND FILL THE FEDERAL COURTROOM Wednesday, Sept. 13th to demand that the UC Berkeley administration be held accountable for their role in ordering the brutalization of peaceful student and community protesters. We must ensure that this never happen again. We need to bring the movement into the courtroom so that the Appeals Court judges understand that they will be held accountable too. The movement for public education, sanctuary, and affirmative action will fight for real democracy and real freedom of speech which must be preserved in the face of police tyranny, ordered and covered-up by the university administration.
THIS LAWSUIT IS UNIQUE in that it places the UNIVERSITY ADMINISTATORS who made the political decision to send armed police thugs into a peaceful student protest ON TRIAL. It is our chance to put them on the witness stand and make them answer for their crimes. It is our chance to strengthen the ability of the student movement on college and university campuses everywhere to fight for and win democracy and equality at a turning point moment in history where student voices and leadership can help determine the future for the whole nation.
Note: BRING PHOTO IDENTIFICATION to the Federal Court.
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Right and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) bamn.com california@bamn.com BAMN Hotline: 510-817-2617
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