Campus officials say they are trying to get a restraining order against animal rights activists who stage weekly demonstrations outside the homes of UC Berkeley professors who test on animals.

The activists, who are not formally organized, have been yelling into bullhorns and writing phrases like "animal killer" and "cat torturer" in sidewalk chalk outside the homes of at least six professors on a routine basis since the beginning of the year, campus officials said.

But the activists said their actions are peaceful, legal home demonstrations.

"There's a long history of home demonstrations in this country," said Ryan Davis, a UC Berkeley student and activist who took part in the demonstrations, in an e-mail. "The civil rights movement used this tactic. (It sends) the message that individuals are not morally exempt from the atrocities they commit on the job," he said.

Campus officials said professors believe the activists' behavior amounts to harassment.

"It frightens spouses and children and irritates neighbors," said campus spokesperson Robert Sanders.

According to Sanders, the activists have also broken pottery in front of a house and thrown a rock through a window.

"The typical method of operating is to hit at random so that police can't predict where they're going to be," Sanders said of the activists. "If the police aren't there, (identifying suspects and making arrests) is not easy to do."

The Berkeley Police Department declined to offer details on the incidents because they said they were concerned about the professors' safety. Professors also declined to comment.

The campus is working with Berkeley police and the FBI to try to identify the demonstrators. Courts have said that because the sidewalk chalk washes away easily, it is not vandalism, Sanders said.

Animal rights attorneys argue that activists are fully within their free speech rights in staging protests outside professors' homes.

"Calling a person an animal abuser and a puppy killer is protected speech," said Christine Garcia, a UC Berkeley alumna and animal rights attorney. "Constitutionally protected speech is not harassment."

Other animal rights activists said the home demonstrations are justified due to the professors' animal testing.

"It would be nice if they would stop abusing (the animals) when we ask them nicely," said Jerry Vlasak, a doctor and spokesperson for the Animal Liberation Front press office. "But sometimes these tactics are required. Nothing that comes out of animal research couldn't be discovered in a more efficient way."

UCLA and UC Santa Cruz have seen similar demonstrations, some of which have led to arrests.

Two weeks ago, a Santa Cruz researcher's husband was injured after fighting off six masked protestors banging on his front door during his daughter's birthday party, Sanders said.

A Los Angeles County judge also approved a restraining order against activists who had harassed UCLA researchers.

"Some of the things they've been caught doing in UCLA and in Santa Cruz have been felonies," Sanders said. "We hope it's not going to escalate that far."

While UCLA researcher Dario Ringach stopped doing research on primates because of the activists, Sanders said Berkeley professors will not allow themselves to be intimidated by the demonstrations.

"They want absolutely all animal research stopped and here at UC Berkeley that's not going to happen," Sanders said. "There are too many important medical health problems that can only be solved with animal research."

Tags: ACTIVISM, ANIMAL RIGHTS