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Mayday Protests


Protesters march down Bancroft, courtesy of Daily Cal.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I like to watch protests, or at least large mobs of people.  They can be an energizing break from all the tediousness of school.  I remember watching the celebrations on the street after the Big Game, when joyous students paraded the goalposts down Bancroft and set them up against Sproul Hall.  I remember the Affirmative Action protests in the Spring of 2001, where I stood in the middle listening to the counter-protesters and inner-city high school students shout it out across a police line.  I remember all the war protests, including the one that drew crowds in the hundreds of thousands, along with my sister.  And I remember trying to take a midterm in Wheeler Auditorium when the Students for Justice in Palestine took over the building, chaining the doors shut.  As long as no one gets hurt, and things don't get out of hand, they are a wonderful way of expressing views.   

Its a more rare thing, though, when a riot or protest passes right in front of my apartment.  Every now and then, it happens... and on May 1st, 2003, it happened for a 3rd time.  For those of you unfamiliar with what Mayday is all about, it started as a remembrance of the struggle for the 8 hour workday in 1886, when police attacked a crowd of union members killing 6.  As I understand it, it later became a day when workers around the world were to rise up against capitalism.  In that context, its the communists day to celebrate... or protest... or... uhh... something like that.

This year, the protesters marched around the streets near campus, heading up Dwight, through the Peoples Park, back down Durant and Bancroft, and ended somewhere down by the Berkeley Jail.  They were all massed, carrying torches in a manner more reminiscent of a medieval mob.  The other half of this story was the riot police, whom used the Tang Center parking lot as a staging area.  There were probably thirty cops out there when I got outside.  They blocked off the protesters in their confrontation at Bancroft and Fulton, arresting three who refused to put out their torches.  Probably a good idea in the long run... who knows what could happen with a mob of people running amuck through town with TORCHES.

 


My neighbor Ethel trying to avoid arrest.

 


BCR guys hanging around Telegraph and Bancroft for counter-protest..

My adventure began when my neighbor Ethel came running in to tell us the mob was right out in front of our  apartment.  Naturally, I grabbed my shoes and camera to go out on an adventure.  The first thing we noticed, aside from the parking lot full of police, was that all the streets were blocked off above and below Telegraph.  Of course, they were only blocked off by those "Interceptors", otherwise known as meter-maids.  John would later joke, he would just love to run one of those road-blocks, see how effective that would be. HAHA.

We wandered up the streets, around peoples park, and back down telegraph trying to find this protest, without much luck.  Finally, we found some protesters... Actually just the BCR counter protesters on the corner of campus, waving the American flag and pro-America slogans.  After telling them that the protesters likely had already passed by, they headed off to get drunk.


Map of marchers path.

When we finally headed back home, we walked through the riot police in the parking lot to take pictures.  Only one guy agreed, and he didn't seem too happy about it as it was... but we got our picture.  He didn't seem like the type who would pose taking a swing at one another or having Ethel in a headlock.  Oh well. =)


The riot police using the Tang Center parking lot as a staging area.