2 arrests in protest of Berkeley City Council vote on Urban Shield

Two arrests were made at the Berkeley City Council meeting Tuesday night after hundreds of people showed up to protest a vote to continue the police department’s participation in the annual Urban Shield training program and expo.

The meeting quickly turned chaotic when community members unfurled a banner that read, End the militarization of our communities.

Community members began chanting, “Stop Urban Shield,” as some mounted the stage where council members sat.

Shehk said officers hit demonstrators with batons and threatened them with a tear gas launcher, which was never deployed.

Urban Shield, an event funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security, provides law enforcement officers training for disasters, terrorist attacks and crisis interventions.

The protesters see Urban Shield as an event that militarizes police departments and pits them against communities of color, Shehk said.

“Urban Shield is a SWAT training exercise program and we’ve seen that SWAT raids have impacted primarily black communities and Latino communities disproportionately in the Bay Area and across the country,” Shehk said.

Over 100 people gave testimony during the public comment portion of the city council meeting, most demanding that the city withdraw from the event, Shehk said.

The Stop Urban Shield coalition also gave a presentation to city council members on what alternatives law enforcement can partake in to prepare for emergency response.