Testimony from 1st Raid 12/21

In the early morning of December 21, 2016 Berkeley Police surrounded the Poor Tour homeless protest camp. The group is known as the "Poor Tour" because they have been forcibly moved over 10 times in the last few months. This group is demanding access to legal campground and for the police to stop the raids. Many of the people in this group of 20-30 people have disabilities and mobility issues. Berkeley Police, under the orders of the City Manager (Dee Williams-Ridley) via the City of Berkeley Neighborhood Services team. They have actively harassed, arrested and deprived them of their property but have not provided an answer to the question of where they can legally exist.

This clip documents: police taking possessions without providing receipts to individuals, police preventing citizen observation of their actions, police preventing press access to police actions and arresting one woman for "violating" the yellow caution tape. One man explains how police threatened to confiscate his camera if he violated the perimeter. Another man explains why the city sponsored "shelter beds" are not a solution to homelessness. This clip also demonstrates that when police video a scene, they are NOT recording police behavior and underscores the need for citizen observation.