Yesterday a new Occupy Protest was started at UC Berkeley, at Sproul Plaza, in front of Sproul Hall. They’ve named themselves Occupy Cal, and they are protesting the high costs of the UC college system. Some students put up a few tents, which ended up being taken down by police. I've heard reports that all tents were removed or that 2 were left up. At least 7 students were arrested. Reports are that one of them was seriously injured.

In the afternoon I had received a text message that the arrests were taking place, 5 minutes later I received another message saying it was over. I went home and figured that was that. Around 9:45 I got another message saying things had started again, so I went there, getting stuck at every stoplight along the way. By the time I arrived the tents were once again gone, and more arrests had been made.

One woman told me of watching police drag a tent away that had a person in it. I got many reports of the police being violent with the student protestors, and no reports of the students doing anything more then putting up tents, shouting and standing their ground.

I spoke with one young man who wished to remain anonymous, who's face had been badly beaten by the police with a baton. He looked no older then 19, and his face was severely bruised. I encouraged him to seek medical attention, he did find an independent medic who must have cleaned things up a little because he did look a little better a half hour later. I asked him if the police expressed any concern or offered to get him help and he said no.

He had been stuck in the front of the demonstrators, and when the police ordered him to move he had no place to go. He claimed he had been non-violent and had done nothing other then being there to provoke the assault.

There's a video going around that's worth sharing. I didn't take this video, it's on Miles Matthews YouTube site. It shows officers beating the students with batons. Forget what you think of most Occupy protestors. These are fresh faced kids, and it's pretty heartbreaking.

If I was their age, how would I feel about this world they've been left. It's got to be frustrating. I'm sure they feel even more frustrated after these events.

I stayed on site for 5 hours, watching the riot police stand the whole time. For a while two of them got down on their knees holding guns that probably shoot bean bags or some similar thing. At several times it seemed like tear gas might be imminent. But the whole time I was there, there were no incidents involving the police.

These were some of the same police that had been at the Oakland raid 2 weeks ago, I recognized the officer I'd had problems with. It seems to me after what the Oakland police have done, wouldn't you call in a different department to help out? There were also officers from UC Berkeley and from the sheriffs department.

As the night went on into morning, a few people set up tents, some lay in sleeping bags. Some people from the Oakland and SF camps came over to show support.

I'm guessing the crowd was somewhere around 750, and that crowd stayed strong until after 2AM, and then it thinned out considerably. I lasted until 3, and my body is cursing me for staying that long. I was afraid something more would happen, but it did not. The local news channels had trucks and most of the reporters had retreated to those trucks by the time I'd left.

I'm tired, and there's not much more to report. These students are young, they're frustrated, and they want to have a voice. They've turned to the Occupy movement hoping to be heard.

They plan on meeting again at noon today. I hope the campus and police show more restraint today and in the future.