UC Protestors Stand Off With Cops At Mission Bay

The protest took place outside the UC Board of Regents meeting at the Mission Bay campus, where police barricaded the entrance to the building. When protesters attempted to cross the barricade, police pushed back by using their clubs on students not moving fast enough and showering the crowd with pepper spray to disperse them. According to a UC spokeswoman, 16 people were arrested on charges including assault on an officer and resisting arrest.

"They didn't give people a chance to leave. We don't have anything to fight back with," said Maria Belman, a UC Berkeley student who got pepper spray in her eye.

"It was an angry, unruly and aggressive crowd," UCSF police Chief Pamela Roskowski said at a midday news conference after the protests had died down.

Three officers were injured, including one who suffered a cut to his arm while a protester was attempting to use a barricade as a weapon, Roskowski said. No one was hospitalized.

Of those arrested, 11 are students, including seven UC Berkeley students, one from UC Davis, one from UC Santa Cruz, one Petaluma Community College student, and a UC Merced student, Roskowski said.

Christine Byon, communications director for the U.C. Students Association, told SFWeekly that the level of violence "is getting to the point where it's kind of scary". She said she was pepper-sprayed along with other protesters and also witnessed an officer pull out his gun and point it at someone.

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