Berkeley protesters sound off at city council meeting
BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Despite concerns about angry protests city leaders in Berkeley held the council meeting they were forced to postpone last week because of demonstrations. Tuesday night, the city council got an earful, but nothing more.
"I saw one guy get shot in the back with this. This is what they were firing," demonstrator Stefan Elgstrand said, holding up a rubber bullet.
Protesters told the Berkeley City Council that rubber bullets and teargas were used on a lot peaceful demonstrators. Others witnessed excessive force.
"One of the Berkeley police pushed an old man to the ground. He could've been killed. He could've smashed his head on the cement," Berkeley resident J.P. Massar said.
"I feel the only thing that it takes for evil police to really be that way is for good police to not stand up," Berkeley resident Quincy Carr said.
Berkeley City Council hold meeting, opens mic to protesters
The demonstration on Dec. 6 led to widespread vandalism. Later, about 400 protesters squared off against hundreds of police on Telegraph Avenue.
"Mayor Bates, you defended the police riot on protesters the next day and blamed students who were beaten unprovoked by police. That is a scandal," demonstrator Yvette Felarca said.
Bates says the situation was out of hand and the crowd was given 45 minutes to disburse.
"If somebody stepped over the line and did something that was bad, we'll look into that and we're not going to shuffle things under the rug," Bates said.
The mayor announced a special meeting on Jan. 17 to explore better policing tactics and gather feedback from the public.
