As protesters continue to gather in order to seek justice for the deaths of Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner - all by the hands of police - cops continue to prove that these protests are very much needed, and a legitimate change needs to happen soon.
Recently, on Saturday, December 6th, around 5 pm, hundreds of UC Berkeley students and residents of the area gathered on Sproul Plaza and began a completely peaceful march to the Berkeley Marina. During their march, loads of cops began to form around them and set up barricades to halt their progress and even fired off rubber bullets and smoke bombs to deter the protesters from continuing on their quest for justice. Amid the chaos, one student's knee was hit by one of the many projectiles fired by police, and was tragically shattered as a result. Another student collapsed and suffered a seizure due to the terror that the menacing police were inflicting on the protesters hearts. The injured weren't even allowed to seek medical attention, as the police continued to harass and herd them like cattle.
Despite this barbaric treatment, the protesters stood strong and demonstrated their unwavering determination to ensure that their cries for change are heard loud and clear. After making their way back to Sproul Plaza, the hounding police continued to herd the group of students around the Bancroft/Telegraph area where the abusive treatment continued and the above video begins.
It starts with Berkeley student protesters, who were now joined by Berkeley High, City College students, and others, who were all engaged in an extremely tense standoff with the police. While the protesters were screaming at the cops trying to talk sense into them, the police glared back at them, appearing to let every logical word shouted by the protesters fly through one ear and directly out of the other without taking a second to actually listen to them.
The cops, fully equipped with riot gear from head to toe, all held nightsticks in their hands in a combative stance ready for action. What took place next was fitting for a fight scene straight out of a movie, as the police stood in a line and began marching towards the protesters, backing them away as they jabbed at them with their nightsticks. Some of the police officers began dishing out powerful NHL-worthy hockey checks with their nightsticks to make the protesters back away. At one point, a colossal cop checked a tiny woman with his nightstick and after she grabbed it to defend herself, he wrestled with her and slammed her to the ground, causing her head to hit the concrete with the impact that you might see from a Dragonball Z episode after Goku unleashes an Earth-saving "Kamehameha." They seemed to be operating like robots who were programmed to only respond with violence no matter if they were being threatened, provoked, or not.
One of the most disturbing moments from the clash was when one officer was actually captured on film smiling at the protesters standing in front of him after he taunted them with his nightstick. They even called him out for smiling at the treatment that the cops were putting the civilians through, but he didn't seem to care, and continued to carry the odd smirk on his face.
Many protesters were hit repeatedly with the nightsticks in their ribs, and other parts of their bodies as well. The cops had absolutely no regard for who they hit, as they also targeted small women who couldn't have weighed more than 100lbs, the same way that they would've gone after a 250lb bodybuilding man. Eventually, the protesters were left with no choice but to flee down the Telegraph area after they were bombarded by an onslaught of blistering tear gas. One protester was injured after a police officer shot a tear gas can directly into his back. Shortly after this final display of violence from the police, they finally retreated after tormenting the protesters for so long.
The footage from Bagheera's Youtube channel that you are about to witness is only a small portion of what protesters were able to capture between two cameras, but there was a great deal of abuse that occurred that they weren't able to film as well.
Check out the display of police brutality above.
