Several Arrested After Scuffles At Berkeley Patriot Prayer Rally
BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- An East Bay activist was one of at least three people arrested Tuesday afternoon at a rally and march by the conservative group Patriot Prayer at the University of California at Berkeley campus.
The group began to gather at Sproul Plaza around 2 p.m. and the person was taken into custody on Shattuck Avenue after a scuffle with counter-protesters.
Rally organizer Joey Gibson said in a video posted to Facebook on Monday that the group planned to march from Sproul Plaza to an unidentified location where participants will give speeches.
At first, police in riot gear outnumbered the people who showed up. Even more unusual was the planned sit down talk in the so called empathy tent between opposing sides.
For the most part that was what happened as Gibson spoke with an opposing activist: a controlled dialogue
But it was the unruly crowd shouting outside the tent that kept things tense.
Berkeley police said about 100 people were marching south on Telegraph Avenue and then were heading east on Channing Way as of about 2:30 p.m. The group then went to People's Park near Dwight Way and Hillegass Avenue.
Shortly before 3 p.m., Berkeley police confirmed that the woman arrested was Bay Area activist and Oakland resident Yvette Felarca.
Felarca was arrested near Telegraph Ave and Channing Way for battery and resisting arrest.
KPIX 5 cameras were there as she was taken into custody. While police led her away with her hands behind her back, other protesters could be heard chanting "Let her go! Let her go!"
Felarca, who works as a teacher in Berkeley, gained notoriety when she was arrested after being caught on video punching a neo-Nazi demonstrator during a July 2016 protest in Sacramento.
Counter-protesters, members of the media and others with cameras appear to outnumber the group from Patriot Prayer and there is a heavy police presence with officers working to keep the two groups mostly separate.
As of about 3:38 p.m., Berkeley police tweeted that the Marchers had cleared the streets and moved onto the sidewalk and that the roadways were opening up.
Police also tweeted out mug shots of two additional suspects who were arrested during the protest.
21-year-old Brandon Witte of Rocklin was arrested near Telegraph Ave and Bancroft Way for illegal possession of body armor as well as violating his probation.
47-year-old Oakland resident Eddy Robinson was arrested in the same area on charges of participating in a riot and resisting arrest.
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