[http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-11-11/news/30390051_1_civil-disobedience-protesters-tents]
A day after police forcibly removed an Occupy Cal encampment, several hundred students gathered on the steps at Sproul Plaza on Thursday evening to plan for a general strike at the university and decide whether to defy campus policy and set up new tents.
The students voted to walk out of classes Tuesday in opposition to cuts in higher education and called on teachers and graduate students to join them.
"The iron is hot, we need to strike," said Shane Boyle, a doctoral student in theater.
Late Thursday evening, the group voted not to set up tents on campus right away.
Matthew Rees, 25, a philosophy major who voted to camp overnight, said he was not concerned the movement would lose momentum.
"They're genuinely terrified for their personal safety," he said of those who voted not to camp. "That in itself sheds light on which force was used to diminish the political statement."
Some other students held out the possibility of setting up a camp during the general strike Tuesday.
Shortly before the gathering, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau issued his first public statement on the Cal occupation, reiterating campus policy prohibiting tents, sleeping bags and stoves on university grounds.
In a letter sent by e-mail to faculty, students and university employees, Birgeneau said he regretted that police had to use force against the students Wednesday night.
Baton-wielding police officers rammed Occupy Cal protesters who had formed a human chain to block access to seven tents that students had erected on Sproul Plaza. Videos taken at the scene show UC Berkeley police and Alameda County sheriff's deputies in riot gear lowering their face shields and hitting the protesters with batons.
Enforcement of the no-encampment policy, Birgeneau wrote, "is largely governed by practical, not philosophical, considerations."
"We are not equipped to manage the hygiene, safety, space, and conflict issues that emerge when an encampment takes hold and the more intransigent individuals gain control," the e-mail said.
Birgeneau said the campus' Police Review Board will determine whether police used excessive force. Police arrested 39 people during the clash Wednesday.
One tent remained on the steps of Sproul Hall until 10:30 a.m. Thursday, when police moved in and took it down, and arrested a student, bringing to 40 the number of protesters arrested.
Birgeneau commended demonstrators who chose to be arrested peacefully.
"These protesters were acting in the tradition of peaceful civil disobedience, and we honor them," he said in the e-mail also signed by other campus administrators.
On the other hand, he noted, other protesters formed a human chain by interlocking arms to prevent police from tearing down the tents.
"This is not nonviolent civil disobedience," he said.
Many students weren't buying it.
"I think Birgeneau's letter is a cynical attempt to mask the police brutality inflicted on peaceful protesters," said Eric Blanc, a student organizer who attends Berkeley City College.
On Thursday, Honest Chung, 21, a history major, was still wearing a wristband from Alta Bates hospital, where he was treated for bruises to his forearms and midsection. Chung said his older sister called after seeing video footage of officers using batons, and he assured her not to worry.
"I convinced her I was OK and I understood her concern," he said. "But it was kind of left unsaid that it was probably best if my parents didn't know about it."
Organizers said Tuesday's strike is planned as a lead-in to a scheduled march on the UC regents' meeting Wednesday in San Francisco. On the Berkeley campus Thursday, strike organizers visited classes to urge students and professors to walk out Tuesday, or hold classes outside in solidarity with the protesters.
While many agreed, one class studying Marxist literature was among those that refused.
Members of Occupy Cal meet to discuss details about the agreed general strike at Sproul Plaza on the campus of the University of California on Thursday, November 10, 2011 in Berkeley, Calif.
Credit: Beck Diefenbach
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