http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iblmRivZKEs
More for Chainpin, Jrefro, and Cincytri here. I was right in the middle of this one and will only say a few things. As we entered with our teams, we actually got surrounded by these students and had to force our way to the line being held by the UCR police that you see in this video. Prior to getting there they were actually successful in pinning one of our men between those metal barricades that you see thrown at the UCR police (we had to forcefully rescue him). You can hear the glass bottles breaking that were being thrown at us. The signs that you see in this video that were being held low were about 36" tall by 18" wide. They were made from two pieces of heavy plywood that had a piece of plexiglass sandwiched in between them. The plexi was about a 1/2" wider than the plywood and was cut with sharp jagged edges so it could be used to cut us when we came in contact with them. They were successful in cutting the knuckles of a couple of the officers.
Only a few were arrested, but many many could have been. The students were quite successful in pinning the board of regents in this building causing us to use…well, we got them out eventually without them figuring out how we did it. I would say the crowd was 50/50. 50% were there to be heard and 50% were there to incite the crowd, cause property damage, and assault the police. I actually had some great conversations with some of the kids after they started settling down. They were amazed at how many things we (the police and the students) agreed on. Several of the students should be uploading more videos today…at least they promised me they would! I’ll be away for a couple of days so Cincytri will have to cover my back on this one! Cheers!