page_title: Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center protests
section_title: Council changes letter's language
hierarchical_section_title: Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center protests / Council changes letter's language
caption_attribution_description: 12 February 2008 The Berkeley City Council is meeting tonight to discuss whether it was a good idea to ask the city attourney to draft a letter saying that the Marine Corps Recruitment Center was "unwelcome" in the city of Berkeley. Pro and anti war activists have gathered in front of city hall.
context_page_description: The Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center protests began in September 2007 when a small group of protesters from Code Pink began periodically protesting in front of a United States Marine Corps Officer Selection Office located in Downtown Berkeley, California at 64 Shattuck Avenue by standing in front of the office holding banners and placing signs. The recruiting center had been located in Berkeley since January 2007. On October 17, 2007, the group Move America Forward held a counter protest.
  On January 29, 2008, the Berkeley City Council passed a series of motions concerning the recruiting center. The most controversial motions ordered the city clerk to draft a letter calling the Berkeley Marines "unwelcome intruders" and another motion gave Code Pink a parking permit on Wednesdays and a noise permit. The motions drew national media coverage. Some veterans groups and conservatives were angered by the motions. National and state laws were drafted to remove funding for Berkeley. The Berkeley City Council changed the wording in the letter February 13, 2008, to remove the most controversial wording and communicate support for the troops but opposition to the war.
context_section_description: 25,000 people wrote to city leaders urging them to rescind the letter. Some members of the city council regretted their vote after the motion passed. Councilwoman Betty Olds said she was ashamed of her vote. On February 4, 2008, Council members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli called on the council to rescind the letter to the Marines and to declare that Berkeley was against the war but supported the troops. On February 12, 2008, the council met to reconsider the Marine Corps Recruiting motions. On this day, at its peak, 2,000 protesters gathered outside city hall, with one group protesting against the city council motion that included Move America Forward, and the other, consisting mainly of Code Pink, protesting in support of the motions.  The two sides faced each other with police separating them on Martin Luther King Jr. Way; both sides exchanged songs, chants, flag waves, yells, and obscenities. The protest lasted 24 hours, ending at around 1:00 am on February 13. There were four arrests. The City of Berkeley spent $93,000 in police overtime on February 12 as part of a large police presence to keep the peace.
  On February 13, 2008, after four hours of debates and public comment that included over one hundred speakers, ending at 1:30 am, the Berkeley city council decided 7-2 not to send the letter they had asked the city clerk to draft to the Marines. The new letter written by Mayor Tom Bates and Council members Max Anderson, Linda Maio and Darryl Moore affirmed "the recruiters' right to locate in our city and the right of others to protest or support their presence." The new letter also stated that Berkeley did not support "the recruitment of our young people into this war" but "deeply respect and support the men and women in our armed forces." The council decided 5-4 not to offer an official apology, but some individual members of the council expressed regret.
  The council did not reverse four of its previous motions concerning the Marine Corps recruiting center. The council allowed to stand a resolution to "applaud residents and organizations such as Code Pink for "[impeding], passively or actively" military recruiting. The parking permit and noise permit for Code Pink was also upheld. Mayor Bates told the San Jose Mercury News: "The Marines have the right to be in Berkeley. It was bad judgment for them to come here. We wish they would leave. We support their right to be here but we wish they would move on."
caption: Code Pink at the February 12 protest.
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