The Washington Times reports a story about protesters on the UC Berkeley campus physically blocking white students from accessing a bridge while police stand by and watch:
Students at the University of California, Berkeley held a day of protest on Friday to demand the creation of additional “safe spaces” for transgender and nonwhite students, during which a human chain was formed on a main campus artery to prevent white students from getting to class.
The demonstrators were caught on video blocking Berkeley’s Sather Gate, holding large banners advocating the creation of physical spaces segregated by race and gender identity, including one that read “Fight 4 Spaces of Color.”
Protesters can be heard shouting “Go around!” to white students who attempt to go through the blockade, while students of color are greeted with calls of “Let him through!”
Students turned away by the mob are later shown filing through trees and ducking under branches in order to cross Strawberry Creek, which runs underneath the bridge.
The protests were a response to a Safe Space being moved from the fifth floor of a building down to the basement.
[Original version of this story had "UCLA"; corrected to: "UC Berkeley" -Ed.]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 30 2016, @09:11PM
Yet another debunking emerges:
http://www.dailycal.org/2016/10/27/uc-berkeleys-qarc-bridges-student-groups-history-issues-media-misconceptions/ [dailycal.org]
Many news outlets reported that activists who were part of the protest refused passage to white students attempting to pass through Sather Gate but did not prevent minority students from crossing. Javier said this claim is false.
“The students of color (were) actually trying to join the line in support — people just didn’t know what they were looking at,” Javier said. “We turned away everyone who came, no matter what race or ethnicity they were … except for people with disabilities.”
According to campus spokesperson Adam Ratliff, campus representatives have examined the situation and have spoken with eyewitnesses, including police officers, and determined that race did not play a role in the protesters’ interactions with people who attempted to pass through.