SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The mayor of Berkeley canceled a special city council meeting Thursday to discuss whether to lift a ban on police use of tear gas and pepper spray.
Amid protests at People's Park, the special city council meeting was organized to address the city's previous ban on tear gas.
"There were concerns if things escalate that we have the resources to be able to protect the safety of our community," Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín told KCBS Radio. "We have been informed for a while now that the Alameda County Sheriff would not send mutual aid to respond to a crowd incident in Berkeley because of our prohibition on tear gas."
In 2020, Berkeley officials voted to ban tear gas permanently and stop the police from using pepper spray or smoke at protests and demonstrations, according to a report by Berkeleyside.
Following a conversation with city council Thursday, Arreguín decided that "repealing our policy is a step in the wrong direction," he said. Instead of considering to lift the ban, the mayor canceled the meeting, encouraging Berkeley to look towards other options in the event of an emergency.
Contradicting the mayor's concerns that the Alameda County Sheriff's Office would not provide emergency support, Sheriff Gregory Ahearn told KCBS Radio that he had would send mutual aid to the city.
"I was really upset at the fact that the mayor indicated that the Alameda County Sheriff's office wouldn't respond to a call for mutual aid," Ahearn said.
On Wednesday, 16 deputies were on site assisting with the planned event but did not have tear gas in the city limits.
"If they call for mutual aid and do not want us to be on the frontline of the crowd we can assist like we did yesterday," Ahearn explained. "We can assist with booking of the arrested individuals. We can assist in the transportation of those individuals. We can assist in responding calls for service while their units respond and deal with the crowd in the manner of which that city or entity wants them to deal with."
Protesters were arrested on Wednesday for tearing down some of the fencings around People's Park where construction is taking place to make more student housing. Around 2 p.m., construction was paused due to damaged material.
In response to the protests, Arreguín said that people need to be protesting peacefully to protect other protesters, law enforcement and the broader Berkeley community.
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