Bickering in Berkeley

Berkeley’s city hall made national headlines in February, after its council members declared that a recruiting office for the United States marines was “uninvited and unwelcome”. A public outcry and threats from several Republican senators to strip the city of some federal and state funding led Tom Bates, Berkeley’s mayor, to apologise. On February 12th hundreds of protesters from both sides gathered outside city hall to listen as councillors decided to revoke its stand against the recruiting office, but to restate its opposition to war in Iraq.

(Economist)