Are UC Berkley students a terrorist organization??

Overnight, an impromptu riot to protest budget cuts and tuition increases at the University of California-Berkeley snowballed to include more than 200 people and resulted in flaming dumpsters, broken windows and dancing in the streets.

The Daily Californian reports that the riot emerged from a campus dance party and metastasized into an all-out fiery clash between students and police.

    Officers physically pushed the crowd back so that Berkeley fire personnel could extinguish the flames. Sporadic fights broke out within the crowd, causing police to advance their line on the growing mob and use batons to push it back.

    Members of the crowd hurled glass bottles, plastic buckets, pizza and other objects at the police line. The crowd's size and intensity fluctuated as the police and protesters clashed and multiple members of the crowd were detained by police.

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Mob attacks UC-Berkeley chancellor's home

BERKELEY, Calif., Dec. 12 2009 (UPI) -- An angry mob descended on the home of University of California-Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, breaking windows and throwing torches, police said.

Eight of the estimated 75 people who took part in the Friday night attack were arrested on a variety of charges, including attempted arson and assault with a deadly weapon, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.

The crowd voiced anger over student fee increases and budget cuts.

"No justice, no peace," they chanted before smashing planters, windows and lights, the newspaper said.

Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said several threw torches at the home, where Birgeneau was awakened by his wife, Mary Catherine.

"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."

The attack came a day after university police arrested 66 people tied to a four-day protest this week at the school's Wheeler Hall, which also was the site of a Nov. 20 occupation and clash between students and authorities."