<snip>
Governor Ronald Reagan had been publicly critical of university administrators for tolerating student demonstrations at the Berkeley campus, and he had received enormous popular support for his 1966 gubernatorial campaign promise to crack down on what was perceived as the generally lax attitude at California's public universities. Reagan called the Berkeley campus "a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters and sex deviants."<12> Reagan considered the creation of the park a direct leftist challenge to the property rights of the university, and he found in it
an opportunity to fulfill his campaign promise.<snip>
Reagan's Chief of Staff, Edwin Meese III, a former district attorney from Alameda County, had established a reputation for firm opposition to those protesting the Vietnam War at the Oakland Induction Center and elsewhere. Meese assumed responsibility for the governmental response to the People's Park protest, and he called in the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, which brought the total police presence to 791 officers from various jurisdictions.<12> Under Meese's direction, the police were permitted to use whatever methods they chose against the crowds, which had swelled to approximately 6,000 people. Officers in full riot gear (helmets, shields and gas masks)
obscured their badges to avoid being identified and headed into the crowds with nightsticks swinging.
Alameda County Sheriff's deputies used shotguns to fire "00" buckshot at people sitting on the roof at the Telegraph Repertory Cinema, fatally wounding student James Rector and permanently blinding carpenter Alan Blanchard. The University of California Police Department (UCPD) claims Rector threw steel rebar down onto the police, however according to Time Magazine, Rector was a bystander, not a protester.<18> As the protesters retreated, the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies pursued them several blocks down Telegraph Avenue as far as Willard Junior High School at Derby Street,
firing tear gas canisters and "00" buckshot into their backs as they fled.<snip>
Governor Reagan declared a state of emergency in Berkeley and sent in 2,700 National Guard troops —. <12> The Berkeley City Council symbolically voted 8–1 against the decision<20><22>. For two weeks the streets of Berkeley were patrolled by National Guardsmen who broke up even small demonstrations with teargas. <17> On Wednesday, 21 May 1969, a midday memorial was held for student James Rector at Sproul Plaza on the university campus, with several thousand people attending. During the People's Park incident, National Guard troops were stationed in front of Berkeley's empty lots to prevent protesters from planting flowers, shrubs, or trees. Young hippie women taunted and teased the troops, on one occasion handing out marijuana-laced brownies and lemonade spiked with LSD.<18> Some protesters, their faces hidden with scarves, challenged police and National Guard troops. Hundreds were arrested, and Berkeley citizens who found it necessary to venture out during curfew hours risked police harassment and beatings. Berkeley city police officers were discovered to be parking several blocks away from the Annex park,
removing their badges/identification and donning grotesque Halloween type masks (ironically including pig faces) to attack citizens they found in the park annex.<more>
boldface mine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rector_%28student%29#15_May_1969_.E2.80.94_.22Bloody_Thursday.22 Fuckers.
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