A late-night protest at UC Berkeley against fee hikes and budget cuts devolved into a
riot, as roughly 200 protesters occupied a campus building, lit trash
cans on fire, and threw rocks and bottles at police, officials said.

The protest began as an open-air dance party  to garner support for the March 4 state-wide protest against budget cuts to higher education.

At about 11:00 pm, 20 protesters broke in and entered Durant Hall, Capt. Margo Bennet of the UC Police Department told the Associated Press.

"There were windows broken, there was spray painting and graffiti on
the interior, there was construction equipment that was tossed around,"
Bennet said.

After exiting the building, protesters moved into the streets.

At roughly 1:55 am, protesters pushed a dumpter into an intersection and set it on fire, chanting, "Whose streets? Our streets!" The Daily Californian reported.

The protest then turned increasingly violent as protesters shoved the large trash can towards police and threw bottles at officers, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The riot was quelled at about 3:30 am.

Two people were arrested in connection with the riot, including Marika Goodrich, 28, a Berkeley senior, and Zachary Miller, 26, an alumnus, police said.

The protest and riot occurred during the lead up to a state-wide protest against cuts to public education throughout California.  The University of California Regents approved a 32 percent fee hike, the equivalent of tuition, in November of last year.

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau condemmed the actions of protesters in a statement to the campus community.

"Such
action does great damage to our advocacy efforts with Sacramento and
with the California public to preserve public higher education,"
Birgeneau said. "We call on our campus community to work together to
express our support for state reinvestment in public higher education
in ways that uphold Berkeley's values of peaceful protest and freedom
of expression."