Berkeley Protest, Day After Portland Rallies, Met With Smoke Canisters, Crowd-Control Projectiles

After the Portland police were criticized for using violent measures as part of their response to the protest rally carried out by far-right group the Patriot Prayer and later joined by left-leaning Antifa, in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, a similar scene was observed at the protests organized at Berkeley, California.

The Berkeley Police Department confirmed they deployed smoke canisters and also used rubber “less-lethal” projectiles as they focused on “separation of rival groups, confiscating weapons and arresting those carrying weapons in prohibited areas” on Sunday.

However, the department said they resorted to those measures only after some of the members of the crowd — which comprised of thousands of participants — threw homemade explosives, including M-80s at them, local newspaper, Berkeley Side reported.

Berkeley Police spokesman Officer Byron White also said there were reports of around 20 vehicles being vandalized. While most of them had broken windows, one of them was set on fire. Meanwhile, police confiscated banned items that can be used as weapons from members of the crowd including metal poles, sledgehammers and fireworks.

Although the rally was originally supposed to march to the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in Berkeley, most of the crowd never made it to their final destination because of repeated police lines hindering their progression. “We’re not going to allow anyone who has banned items into that park,” White said.

The police were also able to keep a smaller far-right group, consisting of about 30 people, from coming face to face with the Antifa protests, hence preventing it from becoming a melee. According to the Berkeley police, 20 people were arrested during the protest march, most of them accused of carrying banned items to the rally.

However, no injuries were reported unlike the protests at Portland, which took place the previous day. Although the police bureau confirmed Saturday that three people were treated by Portland Fire medics, and one was taken to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, Sgt. Chris Burley said none of the injuries were inflicted due to the action of the officers.

Just like the Berkeley police, the Portland police stood in a line at Southwest Naito Parkway in an effort to keep the Patriot Prayer group from coming in contact with the Antifa counter-protesters, Oregon Live reported.

After a group of counter-protesters refused to heed police orders to disperse, officers present at the scene fired dozens of flash-bang grenades and other crowd-control munitions. Some of the law enforcement agents even allegedly charged at the crowd, shoving some of the people out of the street.

The police, on the other hand, alleged that the crowd had thrown a “chemical agent” and other objects at them.

Some of the videos uploaded on social media, of the scuffle between the police and civilians show the former shoving members of the local press and hitting them with projectiles, which outraged residents.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) condemned the actions of the Portland police on Twitter:

Chief Danielle Outlaw said the Office of Independent Police Review will be reviewing the allegation brought on against the Portland Police Department.

"This morning I learned of allegations of injury as a result of law enforcement action," Outlaw said in a statement. "I take all force applications by members seriously and I have directed the Professional Standards Division to begin the intake process regarding these allegations to determine if force was used and if so, was within our policy and training guidelines."