Editor’s note: The below article was taken from a press release for an event on June 11, 2025 titled ‘Stop the Sweeps! Stop the Brutality! Community Speakout’, in Berkeley CA, which recently carried out a brutal sweep of the tent community described below and seen in the accompanying videos
Advocates of unhoused people in Berkeley are demanding that the Police Accountability Board launch a full investigation into the Berkeley Police action against an encampment of unhoused people on June 4, 2025 at 8th & Harrison Street. They allege that the police action was dangerous, disproportionate and illegal.
At 6:00 a.m. on June 4, the Berkeley Police Department conducted a militarized sweep of the homeless encampment at 8th and Harrison Streets, where many residents are elderly and disabled. In the surprise raid, police arrived with dozens of officers and quickly established a wide perimeter to prevent observers from documenting police activity. Officers used what appeared to be smoke or smoke devices, and less lethal weapons to drive people out of their tents, while issuing threats of arrest as they used bulldozers to dismantle tents and shelters.
In one especially disturbing incident, officers tackled a homeless man to the ground—despite the fact that he was complying with orders and had informed them that he had been hit by a car earlier that same week. Witnesses described the raid as chaotic and traumatizing, with several residents unable to retrieve medications, walkers, or essential belongings before being displaced.
“We will not allow the City of Berkeley to deploy riot-style tactics against unhoused residents—tactics the world is currently witnessing being used by the Trump administration in Los Angeles,” said Yesica Prado, an organizer with Berkeley Homeless Union.
At the upcoming Police Accountability Board meeting on Wednesday, June 11 at 6:30 PM, community groups will be calling for a full and transparent investigation into the recent police raid on the homeless encampment.
“What we witnessed that morning was a premeditated attack on individuals, due process and the civil liberties of Berkeleyans. We need the City Council to require that the BPD gives its full cooperation and turns over documentation related to this operation in a timely manner”, said Andrea Henson, of Where Do We Go.
Advocates and members of Berkeley Copwatch who were attempting to exercise their 1st Amendment right to observe police and to document their actions were physically manhandled and threatened with arrest for even approaching the yellow caution tape. Efforts to identify what property was being taken, how it was being stored and where it was being taken were prevented by police in violation of the 1st amendment right to petition the government for a redress of grievances (we CAN gather evidence of alleged misconduct).
This is truly horrific. For people to lose medications is very serious. To attack people for no reason is very ominous. The police are out of control with their Gestapo-like tactics.