(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Berkeley, California landlords had a party to celebrate the end of the eviction moratorium that has plagued thousands of landlords throughout numerous cities in the state.
Little did they know that some of their tenants caught wind of the party, showing up and rioting, causing the party to end in violence, the Daily Mail reported.
The city was one of the last in the state to end its COVID-era eviction moratorium, costing many landlords tens of thousands of dollars over the course of the past three years.
After the landlords’ party began, hundreds of renters crowded into the event to crash it, one of them calling the party “deeply cruel.”
In order to celebrate the destructive policy’s conclusion, the Berkeley Property Owners Association threw a party at a local bar.
When the rioters arrived, however, BPOA President Krista Gulbransen said that she “went around and told our members to remain quiet, and peaceful and not engage, and they didn’t.”
According to her account, people soon began shoving each other, and the event became more violent. Soon thereafter, she was shoved to the ground as “multiple fights” broke out.
BPOA spokesperson Becky Warren said that the police arrived at the scene, but refused to intervene because it was a “political” dispute.
“Hostile dissidents disrupted a private gathering at a local restaurant to intimidate, harass, and physically assault our members who are law-abiding small business owners,” Warren said, noting that the hostile crowd attempted to “escalate, intimidate, and cause harm” to the various members.
Gulbransen and the BPOA have no interest in apologizing.
“We make no qualms about celebrating the end of the eviction moratorium,” she said, adding that “we are celebrating the end of the tenants who could have paid rent, and chose not to.”
According to another BPOA report, an elderly attendee was punched in the face.
