14 arrests, reports of violence during Berkeley protests

More than 100 protesters dressed in black have pushed their way past police barricades and into a Berkeley park.

On Saturday, thousands flooded the streets of San Francisco to protest another far-right rally that was ultimately canceled.

The event is one of several rallies that had been called for Sunday in Berkeley, a day after a controversial freedom rally planned by right-wing groups in San Francisco fizzled amid throngs of counter protesters. “We’re here in the middle of nowhere because we don’t want the violence”, he said. There was “no need for a confrontation over a grass patch“, Berkeley police chief Andrew Greenwood said, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The rally was held in response to the planned right-wing protest “No To Marxism in America”. On Saturday, huge crowds of counterdemonstrators turned out to oppose another right-wing gathering, billed as a Patriot Protest rally, but that, too, was canceled.

He was among half a dozen speakers who initially planned to speak at the rally. “I was told that they served as a buffer between some of the white supremacists”.

However the organizer of the anti-Marxism rally, Amber Cummings, subsequently cancelled the event saying Berkeley officials and left-wing extremists had made it impossible for the event to go ahead, local TV station KCRA reported.

Others said that the violence on Sunday in nearby Berkeley, known as the USA heart of the free speech movement, tarnished their peaceful opposition to Trump’s policies.

Thousands in Berkeley to rally against hate and white supremacy. No further details were provided. “I like to leave it as general as ‘I support collective self-defense against fascism and Nazism'”.

Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson says that his group doesn’t harbor racist views and that hate groups are not welcome.

She said she has yet to see one Democratic leader come out against violent left-wing groups and declare that what happened in Berkeley on Sunday is unacceptable.

Patriot Prayer, originally based in Vancouver, Wash., and later moved to Portland, Ore., describes itself as a group that fights big government.

I’m sad to say that at about noon-thirty, a large contingent showed up from SURJ – Oakland/Bay Area, themselves with a large contingent of antifa ready to form a “defensive line” to protect folks from the nearly non-existent ALT-RIGHT.

People were allowed to enter the park once their bags were checked for banned items, including baseball bats and skateboards.

Mayors in both cities say the two groups invite hate. The punches they’re throwing are injuring their own side. Patriot Prayer’s news conference is scheduled there later in the day.

A protest against a far-right rally gathers near UC Berkeley on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017.

The violence was met with disappointment from elected officials and activists located in the Bay Area.

Saturday’s protests embodied the diversity San Francisco prides itself on, with people from every walk of life, race and background coming together to defend their shared beliefs.

Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand.

“Yesterday, we showed to the world that love conquers hate”.

But anticipating a clash between anti-hate demonstrators and alt-right sympathizers, the city of Berkeley deployed officers in full riot gear.