Via Poligazette, here’s an analysis by Susan Duclos of the taxpayer hit that Berkeley is taking over its anti-troops’ stance.

In the last six weeks alone, the city of Berkeley has spent over $210,000 in police overtime to keep peace during these protests and counter protests, according to police.

The Berkeley police department has 186 officers on duty and in a statement from police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, they usually spend between $2,500 and $3,500 per week on overtime during a normal week.

She further states that from Feb. 12 to March 22, that rose to $210,814.13 and that the city spent approximately $93,000 Feb. 12 during an all-day protest at Old City Hall that drew about 2,000 anti-war and military supporters.

Since then, anti-military groups like Code Pink and the World Can’t Wait have continued to hold weekly protests which have required anywhere from three to eighty officers to work overtime, saying that the anti-military groups mentioned above have become “increasingly raucous.”

Last Monday, March 24, 2008, they say that the police had to arrest another four CodePink protesters during a rally.

Those arrested were Benjamin, 55, of San Francisco; Suzanne Joi, 57, of Berkeley; Pamela Bennett, 45, of San Francisco; and Mari T. Blome, 52, of El Cerrito.

And that’s not all. The civilian counterinsurgency against Berkeley (see Zombietime’s latest photo essay) is having an impact, too:

The Lafayette War Veterans Golf Committee has moved their third annual fundraising golf tournament outside of the Berkeley. Their stated reason is ” due to the cities hostile attitude toward the Marine Corps.”

They have raised over $60,000 the last two years to help people who have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and are being treated at the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center at the Veterans Administration hospital in Palo Alto.

Ted Garrett, CEO of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce said they had received at least 140 emails from people saying they would not do business with Berkeley. That was in early February, the number has risen since then.

Left-wing bigotry has consequences. Feel it, Berkeley.