In a move that critics are calling “one of the most tasteless events I’ve ever heard of,” Berkeley landlords are celebrating the end of eviction protections in the East Bay city with a cocktail party. The Berkeley Property Owners Association, a trade group for rental property owners in Berkeley, apparently believes regaining the right to throw people out of their homes is cause for celebration — or at least a networking event. The “Fall Social Mixer: Celebrating the End of the Eviction Moratorium” is set for the evening of Sept. 12; the event was first spotted by Berkeleyside.

About an hour passed before protesters entered the bar, at which point multiple fights broke out, Berkeleyside reported. According to one witness, a male BPOA member who attended the event slapped a female protester in the face and pushed her. Videos of the event show other violent altercations, including a protester knocking a party attendee’s eyeglasses off and a party attendee swinging their fist toward a protester.

Statement by the Landlord association:

“We condemn the actions of hostile dissidents who disrupted a private gathering at a local restaurant to intimidate, harass, and physically assault our members who are law-abiding small business owners,” read part of a statement, which was shared with SFGATE.

"Hostile dissidents" is some interesting phrasing for local residents chanting outside of a bar.

gulag

  • ElGosso [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    A cocktail party thrown by the Berkeley Property Owners Association in celebration of the end of the city’s eviction moratorium resulted in protests and even physical fights.

    Don't worry, I brought my own cocktail cocktail

    • forcequit [she/her]
      ·
      1 year ago

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-13/lance-elvy-sentenced-setting-landlord-on-fire-townsville/102852510

      • kristina [she/her]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Imagine if every tenant did this 🤔 they can't imprison all of them

        • forcequit [she/her]
          ·
          1 year ago

          "The absence of any logical explanation as to why you would engage in the offending, the fact that you lay in wait for the complainant to return home, the statement that you made to the complainant as you were setting him on fire, combined with the significant permanent and ongoing effects of the injuries which you caused the complainant persuades me to exercise this discretion," Mr Lynham said.

          The sheer will needed to skew the story like this lmao
          "The absence of any logical explanation" thinking-about-it

          • Redscare867@lemmy.ml
            ·
            1 year ago

            The threat of homelessness isn’t violence. It’s just business baby 😎👉

            • that judge apparently
          • kristina [she/her]
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            imagine imprisoning like 35% of the country lmao, thatd be wild. not even the slave days had that high of numbers