Hundreds protest Netanyahu in Berkeley
Judith Scherr and John Geluardi / Daily
Planet 29nov00
Just before 8 p.m., when the lecture was to begin, organizers canceled the event.
Police made no attempt to arrest protesters, whose numbers swelled beyond 500 people. They lined up shoulder to shoulder inside the gates with billy clubs ready by their waists and protesters lined up outside the gate, blocking entry to the 100 or so people who had tickets to the lecture series.
Before the throng broke through the yellow police tape blocking off the intersection of Milvia and Kittedge streets, Palestinian Hatem Bazian, a lecturer at UC Berkeley, addressed the crowd through a bull horn: “Palestinians are not allowed to buy land or rent apartments in land occupied or controlled by the Israelis in the so-called only democracy in the Middle East,” he said. “Territory in the Gaza Strip is occupied by settlers who are the most racist and fascist people on the face of the earth.”
As prime minister and leader of the Likud Party, Netanyahu has supported these settlements.
At about 7:30 p.m., some of the audience members, who had been standing patiently in line, hoping to go through the gates blocked by protesters, turned around an headed for their cars.
“You get up to the front (of the crowd) and it’s very scary,” said one well-dressed woman, who was leaving the area.
Another would-be audience member, Steve Wolan said he was a veteran of Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement. Although he said he was not a Netanyahu supporter, he condemned the demonstrators for not allowing people the right to hear what he had to say.
“It’s a little ironic. This is the cradle of free speech.”
Councilmember Dona Spring was among the demonstrators. Noting the large police presence, Spring said she was outraged that the organizers of the lecture series had brought such an “inflammatory” figure to town.
“This is an outrageous use of taxpayer money,” she said, referring to an estimated $15,000 in police overtime that the event would cost.
At about 8 p.m., an announcement went out that the event had been canceled and a cheer rang out from the demonstrators, who organized themselves into a march. Chanting “no justice no peace,” the crowd, which had diminished to about 300 people, made a quick tour around downtown.
“The protest was a success,” said Bazian before he headed for home. “Once again, Berkeley leads the way. It did in the Free Speech Movement and in the anti-apartheid movement. It stands up for its ideals.
Berkeley Protesters Block Netanyahu Speech Hawkish Israeli vilified as 'war criminal'
Janet Wells / SF Chronicle 29nov00
Hundreds
of raucous protesters blocked the entrance to the Berkeley Community Theater
last night, forcing the abrupt cancellation of a scheduled lecture by former
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
More than 2,000 ticket holders waited in vain to gain entrance to the 8 p.m.
lecture but were denied by several hundred protesters filling the streets of downtown Berkeley as they waved signs and blared slogans through bullhorns.
Lecture series organizer Bruce Vogel canceled the event at about 8:15, saying Netanyahu's safety could not be guaranteed. Police reported no arrests.
Netanyahu, a conservative with hawkish views, apparently was turned back before ever reaching Berkeley city limits.
Vogel would not confirm whether Netanyahu would keep additional speaking engagements at the Marin Civic Center and San Mateo this week.
The cancellation upset those who hoped to hear the politician-turned- businessman speak on a day when it appeared that his political career was on the verge of reigniting.
"Shouldn't we at least be able to hear what he has to say?" said ticket holder Ann Lyons, a San Francisco attorney. "There should be free speech in Berkeley, the bastion of free speech."
The protesters, who represented a wide range of viewpoints, were happy to keep Netanyahu out of Berkeley. Most of the crowd dispersed quickly after the event was canceled.
"I don't believe in free speech for war criminals," said Lori Berlin of Berkeley, who was attending the protest with her daughter.
"Israel is illegally occupying territory," said Joanna Graham of Berkeley, who was holding a sign that read, "Jews for Palestinian Homeland."
Other protesters focused solely on Netanyahu.
"He killed the peace process," said Rick of San Francisco, who refused to give his last name. He carried a sign that read "Netanyahu = the face of Palestinian occupation."
With renewed violence in the Middle East, Netanyahu is enjoying a period of resurgent popularity at home -- and many predict that the former leader of the opposition Likud party will attempt a political comeback in the near future.
Netanyahu became Israel's youngest prime minister in 1996 after gaining significant public exposure as the country's ambassador to the United Nations during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
During his term, Netanyahu's opponents vilified him as a divisive figure who was more of an obstacle to the peace process than a facilitator for it.
In 1999 elections, Netanyahu was trounced by the more moderate Ehud Barak. Netanyahu immediately resigned from the Knesset, or parliament, and kept a lower public profile, taking a job with a communications firm.
However, with Barak agreeing yesterday to hold new elections next year in view of his government's eroding popularity, Netanyahu has a chance to take power once more. Recent polls have indicated that if elections were held now, Barak would be defeated by any major opposition candidate, and Netanyahu is the current front-runner.
Netanyahu was a last-minute fill-in for former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger -- still recuperating from a recent heart attack -- as part of the Marin, Peninsula and Berkeley Speakers Series.
Chronicle Staff Writer Mark Martin contributed to this report. / E-mail Janet Wells at jwells@sfchronicle.com
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