ABSTRACT
On the morning of August 1, 1991, about twenty activists, hoping to stop a joint University of California (UC) and City of Berkeley plan to develop People’s Park, were arrested as bulldozers cleared grass and soil for two sand volleyball courts. By that evening, police and Park “defenders” were battling in the streets over whether work on People’s Park could proceed. Rioting around the Park continued for the better part of a week. Police repeatedly fired wooden and putty bullets into crowds and reports of police brutality were widespread (including the witnessed beating of a member of the Berkeley Police Review Commission). But neither did protesters refrain from violence, heaving rocks and bottles filled with urine at the police.1
