Dan Siegel, celebrated Bay Area civil rights lawyer who led People’s Park protests, dies at 79

OAKLAND — Dan Siegel, the attorney who led the “Bloody Thursday” protest at People’s Park that helped ignite a tradition of activism in Berkeley, drawing scrutiny from the FBI and launching Siegel’s storied career in Oakland’s courtrooms, died on July 2. He was 79.

A lifelong advocate for civil rights, Siegel was a UC Berkeley law student when he yelled “Let’s take the park!” to a crowd of thousands of protesters in 1969, setting off a clash in which police killed one person and sent 128 others to the hospital.