People’s Park Protests Settle Down After 3 Violent Nights : Development: Berkeley is putting in volleyball courts at famed site of anti-war sit-ins and free speech. Protesters say it is being done to evict the homeless.

After three nights of violent protests, demonstrators gathered for a day of rallies Saturday against plans to build a volleyball court at People’s Park.

More than 200 people assembled at the park, a former site of free speech and anti-war protests now frequented by the homeless. But the rally stalled as protesters argued over leadership and tactics.

Meanwhile, a bulldozer continued to clear part of the grassy park near UC Berkeley. The machine worked behind a chain-link fence, police barricades and a line of police officers.

Unlike previous protests that erupted into violence, no one waved signs or shouted slogans against the project.

At least 77 people have been arrested since Wednesday in what started as a peaceful daytime sit-in but turned into three straight nights of broken windows, bottle throwing and scuffles with police.

Protesters gathered Saturday just off Telegraph Avenue, where boarded-up store windows near the university showed evidence of the previous nights’ rampages.

Friday night ended with police firing dummy bullets at about 100 protesters who marched around the park and nearby shopping area, refusing to heed police warnings to disperse. A large dumpster had been turned over and set on fire in the middle of Telegraph Avenue.

Some demonstrators threw bottles at police, but most fled. There were reports of three arrests.

Earlier Friday, Berkeley Police Chief Dash Butler said he would allow peaceful marches.

“People do have basic rights you know,” Butler said. But he defended officers’ use of wooden and rubber bullets, saying they were responding to the escalating violence.

“They’re effective tools. They help move the crowd more humanely” than other tactics, he said.

The grassy, three-acre park is famed as the site of free speech and Vietnam War protests in the ‘60s, and has since turned into a haven for homeless people.

Last week’s clashes erupted over a city contract to lease the center of the park from the university for $1 and install lighting, toilets, and volleyball and basketball courts.

As the first bulldozer moved in Wednesday, hundreds of protesters staged a peaceful sit-in, blocking the 80-foot-by-80-foot volleyball court area. At nightfall, about 600 people stormed the streets, breaking dozens of windows in stores and in the UC student union building.

A flying bottle broke a police officer’s jaw Wednesday night.

On Thursday night, protesters also built a bonfire, throwing spray paint cans into the flames. Some chanted: “No blood for volleyball courts.”