UC Berkeley police seek 5 protesters in disruption of event
UC Berkeley police said Monday they are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying five people who they believe committed crimes last month when pro-Palestinian protesters stormed a presentation by an Israeli lawyer at Zellerbach Playhouse, leading to injuries among guests and officers as well as property damage.
The five people were part of a group of about 200 protesters, who on Feb. 26 broke down the door of Zellerbach Playhouse and smashed a window to prevent Israeli lawyer Ran BarYoshafat from addressing a group of Jewish students. Danielle Sobkin, co-president of Bears for Israel, one of the campus groups who invited Bar-Yoshafat, said after the protest that members of the mob grabbed a student trying to attend the event, called him a “dirty Jew” and spat on him.
Police called the actions by the protesters a “riot” and said Monday that two of the incidents were classified as hate crimes. Police did not specify how many officers and guests were injured during the protest.
The action from police comes just weeks after the American Jewish Committee, a Jewish advocacy group, wrote letters to the U.S. Department of Justice and Alameda County District Attorney’s Office asking both to investigate whether protesters had committed crimes.
The protest came as the conflict between Israel and Hamas took a devastating toll on Palestinian lives in Gaza. Last month, the Palestinian death toll surpassed 30,000 and over 70,000 more have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began, the Associated Press reported. More than 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas in the incident that sparked the war on Oct. 7.