 BERKELEY -- Three effigies of African-Americans hanging from a noose were found on the UC Berkeley campus Saturday morning ahead of a noontime "#blacklivesmatter" protest in Sproul Plaza, a UC Berkeley spokeswoman confirmed. (Photo: Chris Wiggins) 
 
 As thousands marched to end police brutality in Washington D.C., and New York City on Saturday, three cardboard cutouts of African-Americans were found hanging in effigy by nooses on the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Others, however, said the effigies may have been a form of "guerrilla art" and that images of lynching victims have been used by artists in the past. Amy Hamaoui, interim executive director of UC Berkeley's communications and public affairs, confirmed the effigies and also said that university officials are looking to see if there are more effigies. "It certainly could have been racially motivated, so we're taking it very seriously and are very interested in finding out who did this and what the intention was," UC Berkeley spokeswoman Claire Holmes tells USA TODAY. Police took possession of two of the effigies and students took one, said Pastor Michael McBride of the Way Christian Center and co-director of Intervarsity's Black Campus Ministries at UC Berkeley. "The impact is the same: racial terror & it's unacceptable." Two of the effigies were found hanging from the arches at famed Sather Gate, and another was discovered in a tree near Bancroft Lane, Cal integrative biology student Eniola Abioye said.
– Amid nationwide protests against police brutality, effigies of three black people hung by their necks turned up on UC Berkeley campus in northern California yesterday—but was it racism or politically inspired art? "We are unsure of the intent," a school spokeswoman tells the AP. The effigies, one female and two male, had the names of lynching victims on them and the dates when they were killed. One effigy with the hashtag #ICantBreathe was named after Laura Nelson, who died by lynching in 1911, Fusion reports. (See a tweeted photo of an effigy here.) "It certainly could have been racially motivated, so we're taking it very seriously and are very interested in finding out who did this," another school rep tells USA Today. No one has claimed responsibility, and police are investigating. Meanwhile, people are debating whether the effigies are designed to support or terrorize protesters. "This is racial terror they are experiencing," an on-campus Berkeley pastor tells the Oakland Tribune. "These images strewed across campus have terrorized my students." But others call it "guerilla art" reminiscent of Public Enemy's 1992 single, "Hazy Shade of Criminal," the cover of which showed two lynching victims. "To me this suggested a really powerful public art installation" that connects lynching, "state violence against black folks," and the "situation that we're faced with around police brutality and these non-indictments," a Berkeley black studies professor tells the San Francisco Chronicle. Hundreds of protesters marched yesterday in Berkeley, without incident, under minimal police presence. (Protests there last weekend led to violence and six arrests.)