UC Berkeley Administrators Not Dismissed from Occupy Cal Lawsuit

[Joe Shlabotnik]

UC Berkeley administrators will not be dismissed from a lawsuit alleging they authorized police violence during a November 2011 Occupy Cal protest, a federal judge ruled Friday.

The lawsuit, which BAMN filed in November 2011, alleges UC Berkeley administrators hold partial responsibility for the use of excessive force, false arrest and violation of the protesters’ First Amendment rights on the Nov. 9 Day of Action. The administrators, including former UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau and soon-to-retire Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer, sought dismissal from the $15 million federal civil rights lawsuit in September 2013.

BAMN, a national group in favor of affirmative action, filed the lawsuit on behalf of 24 demonstrators who claim they witnessed and experienced violence from police officers at the Nov. 9 protest. Video footage of the action police took against protesters received wide media coverage after the event.

“We’re very glad that the judge agreed with us that we have a right to bring First Amendment complaints against the administration,” said Yvette Felarca, a national organizer for BAMN and lead plaintiff in the suit.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled the protesters’ allegations are sufficient to suggest the administrators were responsible for failing to prevent the police violence.

“The allegations … give rise to a plausible claim that, by the evening, it was or should have been obvious to the UC administrators what would be the likely result of Birgeneau’s directive that they ‘not back down’ on the no-encampment policy: a violent response from the police that would lead to excessive use of force and false arrest by the officers under their control,” Rogers wrote in her ruling.

More at: http://www.popularresistance.org/httpwww-popularresistance-orguc-berkeley-administrators-not-dismissed-from-occupy-cal-lawsuit/

[sabrina 1]

1. Excellent. All these small victories in court rooms across the country will add up eventually.

When they have to face the actual law head on, they lose. As we've seen in case after case of false arrest. The cops can lie with impunity, they can break the law. But once you get them into a court room the dynamics change. It will have a cumulative effect as the people win more and more court battles.

OWS planning for all this was brilliant. Documenting everything, having legal advice throughout every step. While the thugs thought they were winning they were merely playing their part in the inevitable future where their corruption and lies would be exposed.