Berkeley City Council hold meeting, opens mic to protesters

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- One week after it was delayed in the midst of a series of destructive protests, the Berkeley City Council is going ahead with their meeting Tuesday night knowing that hundreds of demonstrators will likely show up as well.

As the Berkeley City Council started its business inside Longfellow Middle School, a crowd gathered outside, many of them longtime Berkeley activists, anxious to get the movement back on task.

"I really do feel like the message is getting lost. We're really talking about the killing of black men and structural and institutionalized racism, at the end of the day, that's not really being addressed," Barbara Ann White from the African American/Black Professionals and Community Network said.

Mayor Tom Bates told ABC7 News before the meeting he has no plans to oblige last week's call for him to resign.

"It was from a group Occupy Oakland. I don't know why Occupy Oakland should tell me, a Berkeley resident, or Berkeley residents that I should resign," Bates said.

Like Oakland, Berkeley has seen its share of violent protests in recent weeks. The weekend after Thanksgiving, more than a dozen downtown businesses were damaged -- events that led to police firing tear gas at demonstrators.

The police department says 13 of its officers were hurt over four nights, even releasing photos of injuries to two of them.

Now, some protest leaders are ready to move on in a way that returns the cause to its original message.

"It appears that the city is at war with itself,"

Mansour Id-Deen is the president of the Berkeley branch of the NAACP. He told ABC7 News, "You can't get anything done by shutting down a city council meeting. We need to communicate with our local officials. And get our point across and get their participation in healing this city."