Police in riot gear kept guard below the window of the protestors as a large crowd gathered outside.

A group of protestors blocked a key pathway, making it incredibly time-consuming to walk across campus.

While walking around, I noticed that Running Wolf, Dumpster Muffin, and the other hippies behind the tree sit controversy had joined the protests.

Police backup kept arriving, and their numbers grew.

This was my favorite all day. She wins the non-sequitur award.

As the day progressed and the crowds became increasingly large and rowdy, the UCPD ran out of personnel and called in the Alameda County Sheriff.

The crowds did not take kindly to Alameda County Sheriffs in riot gear with tear gas guns and gas masks, and several scuffles (not my video) broke out as more and more police arrived on the scene.

The university had sent various groups of negotiators (students, staff, and others) into the building to try work with the protestors barricaded inside. However, at this point the negotiators gave up, conceded defeat, and left the building. The crowds were enraged when they thought the protestors would be forcibly dragged out by the SWAT team.

A riotous group overran the police barrier, and the sheriffs responded by shooting people with bean bags whacking them with batons. Understandably, the crowds became increasingly agitated.

In these two photos, on the right the police are beating a man on the ground. There is currently an investigation regarding whether the police used excessive force... Over the course of the day, a large number of people (some reports I found say 100) were arrested.

At this point it was getting dark, I was running low on batteries and memory, I hadn't eaten all day, and I had to be across campus to cover the annual Big Game bonfire for the Daily Cal, so I missed out on the resolution of the conflict.

Basically, the police realized that if they forced their way through the barricades inside the building, arrested the protestors, charged them with several felonies each, and carried them out in front of the rioting crowds, all hell would break loose. Everyone would get tear gassed, people would trample each other running away, and bad things would happen...

While I was gone, the police reached an agreement with the protestors inside Wheeler. They would come out on their own volition and only be cited for trespassing, not the list of felonies that previously had been threatened. The protestors were released a couple at a time (letting 50-60 people out of the building at the same time would cause the crowds to go crazy), the crowd dispersed, the barriers were taken down right around the time I finished covering the bonfire. The riot police guarded the front of the building shoulder-to-shoulder, and I managed to get a photo before everyone walked in front of me.

During finals week, a group of people again occupied Wheeler twenty-four hours a day for several days. The held dance parties every night (?!) and claimed to be using the building to study during the day. After several days, the police repeatedly warned them to leave, but they didn't. The police raided the building at 4:40 AM and arrested everyone inside. I was studying for finals and didn't find out about this until several days later...

A few days after that, a group of people carrying torches (?!) descended on Chancellor Birgeneau's house on campus around 11 PM. The chancellor was sleeping inside when the rabble began smashing the brickwork and lights in his front yard and trying to burn down the house. The police arrived and arrested a bunch of people, but they were eventually released because there was insufficient evidence regarding who had committed what crime. Governor Schwarzenegger described the incident as "terrorism."

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