"Bash Ends With Fire, Vandalism
Dissent Over Rising Costs Leads to Arrests, Damage to Property"
Dissent Over Rising Costs Leads to Arrests, Damage to Property"
UC Berkeley — A protest condemning tuition fee increases turned violent when hundreds of demonstrators at UC Berkeley transformed a flash mob dance party into a riot.
Roughly 200 demonstrators gathered in UC Berkeley’s Upper Sproul Plaza on Thursday evening for a dance party aimed to rally support for an upcoming nationwide protest supporting public education set for March 4. Attendees then occupied a campus building and by 1:30 a.m. had flooded the streets of downtown Berkeley.
Rioters clashed with police and vandalized public property, breaking windows and setting trashcans and dumpsters on fire. Officials said protestors also hurled rocks and bottles during the altercation.
The riot was met by roughly two dozen UC Police Dept. and