BERKELEY (BCN)http://cbs5.com/localwire/22.0.html?type=bcn&item=INTERNET-CAFE-RAID-bagm-
Law enforcement agencies including the FBI raided an activist center and Internet shop in Berkeley on Wednesday morning and seized 14 computers, University of California, Berkeley spokesman Robert Sanders said.
The raid, which started at around 10:30 a.m. at the Long Haul Infoshop at 3124 Shattuck Ave., was the result of an investigation initiated by UC Berkeley police, Sanders said.
Sanders said the raid was related to "threatening e-mails," but declined to provide any details on the e-mails, citing the ongoing investigation. He did say that the cafe is known as a "hangout for anarchists and other groups.''
A member of Long Haul, which identifies itself as a nonprofit and runs a cafe and a library at the building where the raid occurred, said the agents and officers broke locks, shattered a wooden door and shuffled through multiple files.
"It looked like a breaking and entering,'' Long Haul member Chloe Smith said.
Smith said the raid was inappropriate because the Infoshop would have opened the gate for law enforcement and provided whatever they needed had they shown a warrant.
Authorities did have a warrant to seize the computers, Sanders said.
Smith said they came into the shop before it was open and that the raid lasted until about noon.
She responded to the allegation about the threatening e-mails, saying, "We have our computer area open all hours that we're open, and we keep that space unmonitored and many different people have come through here in the last 30 years.''
The Infoshop is still open but all the computers are gone, as well as some hard drives and other documents.
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