A Juneteenth day party at San Pablo Park in West Berkeley spiraled into a series of brawls on Friday, with several people hit with pepper or mace and one young person taken to a children’s hospital. Police made several arrests, including juveniles, after emergency crews and officers swarmed the park and nearby blocks.
According to The Berkeley Scanner, Berkeley police said the unsanctioned afternoon "day party" drew about 500 people and that multiple fights broke out, leading to arrests. The outlet reports that several attendees were pepper-sprayed and that organizers had advertised food, music and vendors for the event.
Police and fire logs show dozens of calls
Call data compiled by the Berkeley Crime app shows roughly 20 police and fire dispatches to San Pablo Park and nearby streets yesterday, including officer-initiated security checks and multiple medical emergencies. Those public logs include entries for a medical transport and later disturbance and battery calls as officers converged on the Park and Oregon streets area.
Organizers and the city's Juneteenth tradition
Organizers known as Club Sham and The Collective promoted the so-called “Darty” on Instagram, urging attendees to “keep the energy safe” while warning people who feel targeted not to come, The Berkeley Scanner reported. The San Pablo Park gathering is separate from Berkeley’s long-running Juneteenth festival along Alcatraz and Adeline, a family-focused event that has run since the late 1980s, according to Visit Berkeley.
Arrests logged; police details limited
Public call logs show police recorded miscellaneous penal-code incidents and two battery calls after 9:30 PM, and one log entry lists an arrest near 9:40 PM, per the Berkeley Crime timeline. Officials have not released a full incident report or a detailed list of charges as of publication time, and agencies and local outlets say they will update coverage as more information becomes available.
