1 Person Cited At UC Berkeley Protest Against White Supremacy
BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- One person was cited and released during a protest against white supremacy at the University of California at Berkeley Monday, according to campus police.
'Free Speech Week' may have fizzled at UC Berkeley, but some protesters still showed up and a huge number of officers were on hand to greet them.
At one point the protesters were on the steps of Wheeler Hall and inside the classroom and office building, which is in the center of the university's campus, university officials said.
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UC Berkeley police spokeswoman Sgt. Sabrina Reich said Russell Bates, 70, who has no affiliation with the university, was arrested at Wheeler Hall for wearing a mask to conceal his identity but was released after he was cited.
The rally came one day after conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos made a brief on-campus appearance in the wake of the canceled "Free Speech Week" that had been planned by right wing student groups.
A group called United Against Right Wing Violence said it helped organize the protest in response to the abortive "Free Speech Week" events that were canceled at the last minute.
City of Berkeley police said Monday that even though the event has been called off they will still enforce a temporary ban of sticks, pipes, poles and anything else that they said could cause a riot at three city parks: Civic Center Park, Ohlone Park and Willard Park.
They said there also will be temporary rules prohibiting various weapons, including bricks, rocks, axes, mace, knives, firearms, dynamite and torches, in a defined area that's bound by Martin Luther King, Jr. Way to the west, Piedmont Avenue to the east, Dwight Way to the south and Cedar Street to the north.
"We estimate that when this week is over we'll have spent $800,000, probably a little more," UC spokesman Dan Mogulof said.
That money is on top of the $600,000 the university spent when conservative commentator Ben Shapiro appeared earlier this month. It brings the total to about $1.4 million and counting.
UC Police were brought in from as far away as San Diego, as well as cops from around the Bay Area.
Mogulof said, "We need to pay for their time, their travel their room and board and that money adds up pretty quickly."
The city of Berkeley also spent about $600,000 so far.
Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin said, "It's probably going to be more…That's money that can go towards building affordable housing, funding homeless services, putting in new street lights."
San Francisco spent a whopping $775,000 on police for the Patriot Prayer demonstration that never happened.
But UC says it is committed to preventing a replay of police being overwhelmed by the 150 violent demonstrators who hit hard when Milo Yiannopoulos tried to speak on campus in February.
Organizers of Monday's protest couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
At least 11 people were arrested in a demonstration at the campus on Sunday before, during and after a brief appearance by right-wing speaker Yiannopoulos.
