Firebombs Damage 2 Berkeley Bookstores

Firebombs damaged two bookstores in Berkeley, Calif., early today, and the owner of one of the stores said they may have been hurled in connection with the sale of “The Satanic Verses.�

“I can’t imagine any other reason why people would be lobbing bombs through bookstores,� said Andy Ross as he helped clean up the damage at his Cody’s Books near the University of California campus.

Cody’s, a Berkeley landmark, and a branch of the Waldenbooks chain a block away were damaged when bottles of a flammable liquid were tossed through windows in the predawn hours.

In New York, a firebomb today seriously damaged the offices of a weekly newspaper that ran an editorial defending the author, but authorities said there was no immediate evidence linking the two events.