Located east of Telegraph Avenue and bound by Haste and Bowditch Streets and Dwight Way, People's Park was a symbol during the radical political activism of the late 1960s.

[8] On May 13, University Chancellor Roger W. Heyns announced plans to construct a soccer field on the site, leading to a confrontation two days later between protesters and police on May 15.

[9] Known as "Bloody Thursday", police used tear gas and opened fire on the protesters to quell the riot, resulting notably in the death of James Rector.

The idea quickly gained traction, and in the following days, the Berkeley Barb, a local underground newspaper, published a call to action for the creation of the park.

[3] Arriving in the early afternoon, protesters were met by the remaining 159 Berkeley and university police officers assigned to guard the fenced-off park site.

[49] On August 25, 1992, Rosebud Denovo, who had been arrested or questioned more than a dozen times since 1991,[50] broke into the basement of the residence of UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien.

[52] Denovo was carrying a note demanding an end to the construction in People's Park; it read, in part: "We are willing to die for this piece of land.

[54] Although the Office of the Alameda County District Attorney determined the police had acted appropriately in a report released in October,[55] park activists and street people doubted the use of deadly force was justified.

[57] In late 2011, UC Berkeley bulldozed the west end of People's Park, in an effort to provide students and the broader community with safer, more sanitary conditions.

[58][59] People's Park has been the subject of long-running contention between those who see it as a haven for the poor that is crime-infested and unfriendly to visitors and families, and those who see it as an essential green space south of campus and a memorial to the Free Speech Movement.

While the park has public bathrooms, gardens, and a playground area, many residents do not see it as a welcoming place, citing drug use and a high crime rate.

[60] A San Francisco Chronicle article on January 13, 2008, referred to People's Park as "a forlorn and somewhat menacing hub for drug users and the homeless."

San Francisco-based LMS architects were selected to build the housing, and Christ stated that the university was moving to a time of "extensive public comment" on the plans for construction.

[70][needs update] In January 2021, UC Berkeley erected fences around portions of People's Park to take core samples of the soil composition in preparation for construction.

[72] In a statement issued shortly after the occupation began, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ described building on the park as a "a unique opportunity for a win-win-win-win.

Protesters gathered after multiple "bulldozer" alerts were shared when workers began unloading heavy machinery and construction equipment into the park.

The meeting was scheduled a day after confrontations with law enforcement occurred, in order to discuss lifting Berkeley's ban on the use of tear gas and pepper spray by police.

The mayor said he initially called for the August 4 meeting following the protests at People's Park, but later said that he "came to the conclusion that it was the wrong approach and that the ban on tear gas should remain."

"[79] On August 5, the California First District Court of Appeal upheld a stay on construction, demolition and tree-cutting, temporarily pausing further development work at People's Park until the legal issue was resolved.

[82] The university was not allowed to start construction on its proposed development due to the ongoing court case, but took measures to secure the perimeter of the lot, as several large trees were also chopped down.

[82] On the previous night, park advocates had held an overnight vigil to defend against rumored fencing, expressing concern that UC Berkeley's winter break meant that many students were not around.

[85] UC Berkeley announced after the ruling that it would be preparing a plan to start construction of student housing at the site, and subsequently began on July 22.