Berkeley political protest ends in 4 arrests
At least one witness recorded the group and told police some of its members had hammers, according to radio traffic reviewed by TBS.
Thirty people clad in black and armed with smoke bombs smashed windows and vandalized two businesses in downtown Berkeley on Thursday night.
Police said they arrested four members of the group.
As of this week, the investigation was ongoing, Berkeley police said in response to a Scanner inquiry.
Witnesses called police at about 8 p.m. Thursday after seeing a group of masked individuals shouting political slogans in support of Palestine and critical of the United States and Israel Defense Forces.
Members of the group sprayed graffiti and broke out windows at the Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center, at 64 Kala Bagai Way, and a nearby Citibank branch, at 2101 University Ave., police said.
Officers spotted the group as members moved onto the UC Berkeley campus, changed clothes and dispersed, according to radio traffic reviewed by The Scanner.
At least one witness recorded the group and told police some of its members were armed with hammers, according to radio traffic.
Berkeley police said they located four people who had taken part in the vandalism and arrested them, on suspicion of vandalism and conspiracy, at Bancroft Way and Ellsworth Street at about 8:30 p.m.
BPD identified the arrested individuals as a Berkeley man in his 30s, a Berkeley man in his 40s, a San Francisco man in his 20s and an Oakland woman in her 30s.
As of Tuesday, they were no longer in custody and no additional information about them was available, according to booking records.
