June 28, 1968: Activists marched through Berkeley in solidarity with French students

55 years ago, June 28 1968, activists marched through Berkeley in solidarity with the recent “May ‘68” revolt of French students and workers. Police attacked the march, leading to six days of demonstrations and riots in the South Campus area

The march was organized by the Young Socialist Alliance, the youth wing of the Socialist Workers Party, and supported by the Peace & Freedom Party, the Tricontinental Student Association, the Independent Socialist Club, and others. Huey Newton sent a letter of support from prison

While organizers, led by YSA’s Peter Camejo, attempted to keep marchers law-abiding and on the sidewalk, students soon took the unpermitted march into the street. Police quickly declared an unlawful assembly, and attacked with teargas and clubs

For the next 5 nights, demonstrators defied an 8pm curfew. Although protests were organized by formal groups, the most active contingent in the clashes were Telegraph Ave’s “street people,” informal radical affinity groups loosely termed “the Berkeley Commune”

Pressure by students led the city to permit a political rally on Telegraph on July 4th, which passed largely without incident, although growing rifts between “politicos” and “street people” were exposed when a nude anarchist disrupted a speech by Camejo

The rioting began only one night after police shut down two days of riots in Richmond, which were sparked by the police killing of Charles Mims, a Black 15-year-old. While the two struggles were not directly connected, the Black Panther Party was a visible presence in both