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Petition for Non-Violence in Berkeley (Public Comment)

Raymond Barglow
Monday August 21, 2017 - 05:58:00 PM

Yet another white nationalist rally in Berkeley is planned for Sunday, August 27. Will it be as violent as such rallies have been in the first half of this year? Not if civic authority and law enforcement take appropriate steps to “keep the peace.” That is the considered view of some criminologists who have commented on this subject, including Alex Vitale, a writer for The Nation and a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College who advises human rights groups and law enforcement agencies. 

With the help of friends and family, all of whom live in Berkeley, I’ve authored a petition requesting that Berkeley city officials and law enforcement take measures to prevent violence at right-wing gatherings of this kind. Here are a few sentences from the petition text: 

Although civic authority and law enforcement have been finding it difficult in cities like Berkeley to protect both public safety and the right to protest, more can and should be done. When extreme right-wing rallies are held in Berkeley, we the undersigned request that the city’s Mayor, City Council members, City Manager, and Police enact a policy to minimize violence. Appropriate means to achieve this end include: 

  1. Use the city permit issuing process to physically separate the two sides – the far-right protestors and the opposition to them....
  2. Use standard non-violent crowd control tactics to keep the two groups separate, including the use of sturdy, mobile barriers, and checkpoints to disarm protesters (disallowing guns, knives, sticks, bottles, etc.). Police officers should place themselves between, and if necessary move to stay physically between, the two sides.
  3. Intervene to prevent or halt all physical fighting and assault engaged in by participant individuals or groups. Police officers should make arrests if violation of the law occurs, and should do so as non-violently as is possible.
Those wishing to read and possibly to sign the petition can do so at: 

https://www.change.org/p/berkeley-mayor-and-city-council-petition-for-non-violence-in-berkeley