There had been a lot of police activity in the area before the concert even started. So not the setting you'd expect before an Audra concert, but it was on the Cal campus, so that area is always a buzz with protesters.
If you don't know Audra McDonald then let me enlighten you: fantastic, fantastic singer, the only Broadway actress to win a Tony award in each of the acting categories, median age of concert goers: 60 plus.
Not the demographic you'd consider getting caught in the middle of a dangerous protest.
After the show ended, the venue did warn us that there was a lot of protesting going on around the parking garages that most would have left their cars at. Little did I know what we would all be walking right into.
Let me say this, I never once saw a protester do anything that would warrant the treatment they were given by police. I may have missed it, but overall everyone was being incredibly peaceful. However, as a we walked back to our cars all I heard was yelling by police, telling everyone to get out of the streets and then a big boom.
It was too quite for a bomb, but I knew it wasn't going to end well. At this point I had almost made it to the garage, which I'm guessing was a good thing, though I did learn that tear gas (yes, that is what the boom was) gets stuck in compacted areas.....like a garage.
I've never felt anything like it....and I hope to never again. I was enraged as I watched a lot of older people struggle to get back to their cars, fear in their faces. Thankfully I made it back to mine and ended up picking a few people up to get them out of the air...though it was already burning our faces and our eyes.
I get that the police were trying to control the town....but tear gas is technically a chemical weapon....and don't we frown upon other countries for using that? But why is it okay to do it to our own citizens?
Not cool Berkeley. Not cool.
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