Berkeley Chancellor's Home Attacked by Torch-Bearing Mob: Governor Decries 'Terrorism'; Activists Pledge, 'Burn Every Rich Man’s House to the Ground'!

I predicted it. In my coverage of the campus protests and occupations across California, I've noted repeatedly that revolutionary cadres are taking over the movement, and that it's just a short step to real anti-capitalist violence. Recall my report, "Berkeley's Wheeler Hall Protest Marks Escalation in Campus Intifada." As I noted there:

My sense is that the only thing missing so far is the arson, kidnappings, and bombings that have marked earlier decades of student revolutionary agitation. And unfortunately, my bet is that it's only a matter of time -- we'll be seeing some Bill Ayers wannabes popping up in short order.

Well, it's difficult, but my sense was pretty accurate. From the San Jose Mercury News, "Torch-Carrying Protesters Storm UC Berkeley Chancellor's Home; 8 Arrested":

As many as 70 protesters, many carrying torches and smashing windows, attempted to storm UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau's on-campus residence late Friday in a violent act condemned by university officials and student activists alike.

Eight people, including two UC Berkeley students, were arrested on suspicion of rioting, threatening an educational official, attempted burglary, attempted arson, felony vandalism and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, the university said.

Some protesters threw incendiary objects at the house in an attack that left the chancellor and his wife fearing for their lives.

The group was apparently protesting student fee hikes and budget cuts. The demonstrators chanted "No justice, no peace," as the chancellor slept. His wife woke him up about 11 p.m.

"These are criminals, not activists," Birgeneau said in a statement Saturday. "The attack at our home was extraordinarily frightening and violent. My wife and I genuinely feared for our lives. The people involved in this action will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I want to emphasize that they represent an extreme minority of our students."

UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said it was a "matter of luck" the protesters were unable to break into the home before police scattered most of the crowd. Protesters smashed lights, shattered windows, scattered trash and flipped over planters, Mogulof said ....

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement calling Friday's protest "terrorism" and said "those who participated will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law." UC President Mark Yudof called the attack "appalling" and said the "matter is now appropriately in the hands of law enforcement authorities."

And at Bay Area Indy Media, with a screencap just in case, "Torchlit Evening with Birgeneau":

Everyone can follow the thread connecting these events. The police action towards students in the past few months could be accurately called “extraordinarily frightening and violent” as Birgeneau whined of the ruckus that woke him last night. As a leading beacon of the capitalist media recently observed, “Whether you're an oppressive foreign dictatorship or an American state in the process of committing fiscal suicide, you know you're losing the public relations battle when encounters between armor-clad riot police with truncheons and college students are broadcast on TV.” Despite the liberal overtones, Newsweek exposes some important points. The dictatorship of capital is indeed performing an ensemble suicide, and as we are its captives, our will to live can only be expressed through revolt -- refusal, negation, and the unleashing of unlimited human strikes. As students, we are supposed to be the embodiment of society producing its own future, but this society has no future; there will be no “return to normal” and we must find ways to inhabit this reality. From Berkeley to Greece and back around the other side, we are in civil war. This is the basis of modern life, and it is high time we illuminate this fact for any who remain confused.

It’s worth noting that last night, the activist-mediators and movement-bureaucrats who have behaved as volunteer deputies so many times in the past few months were nowhere to be seen. This was neither peaceful nor a protest; the time for dialogue is over. The path of reform and representation is our target as much as the sphere of academic production itself. Birgeneau was right, we are “criminals, not activists”: we are no longer kept obedient by the myth of peace as our normal condition. We must wonder as well about the people who cleared obstructions from the street in the wake of the march – streets used minutes later by police who attacked the mob and arrested 8 comrades on extreme and absurd charges. A reminder to everyone: solidarity means attack!

The rage that was loosed upon the chancellor’s disgusting palace was not only well-deserved, but a long time coming and should not by any means stop there. Not until every knowledge-factory grinds to a halt and every rich man’s house is either squatted or burned to the ground.

See my earlier report as well, " ‘Mobilizing Conference’ for Public Schools Revives ’60s-Era Campus Radicalism."

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UPDATE: "Torchlit Evening with Birgenau" is crossposted at "Occupy California."

There's a photo-essay of the "riot." See, "UCB Sparks":

An account of arrest, from "Allie":

Eight fucking hours in jail. Fucking felt up by the female cops as the male officers stood by and watched as they touched our asses, as we lifted our underwires and shook our stuff. They fucking watched. They fucking continued this process of separating us, moving us into different jail cells, taking things away, lying to us, intimidating, threatening violence to us. Fucking bullshit.

And see another occupation blog, calling for an intifada, "Solidarity with ALL arrested in Berkeley!":

While some following the UC unrest are are lamenting the attack against the Chancellor’s mansion, few have offered alternatives to hold him accountable for repeatedly ordering officers to assault and arrest his students. We, however, applaud all actions that students, individuals, mobs, friends, and just regular fucking people take against those that mobilize the violence of the state. The fury and vengeance of those outside the chancellor’s mansion was born through the actions of the police and chancellor themselves; they are now seeing their progeny.

More at the link.

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UPDATE: Linked at David Horowitz's Newsreal blog, "Leftist Students Turn Violent": Hall of Record, "Copenhagen Violence An Old Leftist 'Trick'"; The Rhetorican, "Tea Parties Are to Campus Protests As..."; and Theo Spark, "The Sunday Best ..."