Left-wing agitators armed with bricks, smoke bombs, and fireworks shut down a speaking engagement by Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos at the University of California, Berkeley Wednesday night. Using violence and intimidation, the rioters managed to squelch the free speech of Milo and his supporters, along with their right to peacefully assemble.
Via CBS SF:
Yiannopoulos was making the last stop of a tour aimed at defying what he calls an epidemic of political correctness on college campuses.
With masked activists joining the already large group of protesters gathered in the area between Sather Gate and the north end of Telegraph Avenue as night fell, campus police were holding their positions near the entrance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union building hosting the event.
As the gathered crowd got more agitated, masked “black bloc” activists began hurling projectiles including bricks, lit fireworks and rocks at the building and police.
Some used police barriers as battering rams to attack the doors of the venue, breaching at least one of the doors and entering the venue on the first floor.
In addition to fireworks being thrown up onto the second-floor balcony, fires were lit outside the venue, including one that engulfed a gas-powered portable floodlight.
The area on Upper Sproul Plaza grew thick with smoke, and later tear gas, as the protest intensified.
#BREAKING: UC Berkeley planned event by @Breitbart editor #MiloYiannopoulos is canceled after protest turns violent pic.twitter.com/KsTPQ2yfNG
— Kris Cruz (@realKrisCruz) February 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/shane_bauer/status/826980737446391808
#Milo had more truth bombs than the #Liberals could handle.#MiloatCal #MiloProtest #UCBerkeley #MiloYiannopoulos pic.twitter.com/L7so9aFPHY
— DeeconX (@DeeconX) February 2, 2017
Tonight's Riot At UC Berkeley Is Another Sign That The Left Is In Full Meltdown Mode. #MiloAtCal #MiloYiannopoulos pic.twitter.com/JOLZoyQA8K
— BlackAwakening (@BlackAwakening2) February 2, 2017
This was the fire a couple minutes ago. It just let out a huge bang. PD telling people to get back as FDT plays in background. @NBCBayArea pic.twitter.com/f6RPv0XF7i
— gillian (@GillianM925) February 2, 2017
Window of the student union at canceled #milo event, #Ucberkeley pic.twitter.com/X1LSYWzmDz
— Nanette Asimov (@NanetteAsimov) February 2, 2017
UC Berkeley campus police announced that the event had been canceled in the early evening, but rioters stuck around for hours, breaking windows and lighting flags on fire. There were no immediate reports of arrests or serious injuries in the mainstream media, but there were reports on social media of people getting beaten up while cops stood by and did nothing.
I was in Berkeley and watched a man getting beat by a mob with no police help. I was the only person to jump in and help
— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) February 2, 2017
The aftermath of me helping a guy after being jumped by thugs. The police and 100's of civilians stood and watched. pic.twitter.com/7hN2iJ4kkf
— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) February 2, 2017
Are left-wing agitators in California being given a “safe space” to commit violence against conservatives?
“Where are the cops?” Fox News’ Tucker Carlson asked incredulously as he watched the violent chaos unfold.
According to the Los Angeles Times, UC Berkeley administrators received “hundreds of letters” from faculty, students, and others demanding they bar Yiannopoulos from speaking in the weeks leading up to his appearance.
One letter from a dozen faculty members argued that his talk could be canceled on the grounds that his actions — which they called “harassment, slander, defamation, and hate speech” — violated UC Berkeley’s code of conduct.
Carlson had Yiannopoulos on his show Wednesday night to talk about the left-wing violence at Berkeley.
“This looks like a nightmare scenario,” Carlson said. “Political violence designed to squelch opinions the perpetrators of the violence disagree with. Am I reading it correctly?”
Yiannopoulos answered, “That’s exactly what it is.” He pointed out that many of the people who come to his speaking events don’t necessarily agree with everything he has to say, but want to hear what the other side has to say.
“They were prevented from doing so this evening,” Milo said. “The left is terrified of anyone who they think might be persuasive or might be interesting or might take people with them.” He added, “I am not a scary, far-right neo-Nazi as some of the posters claim. They put those things on posters to legitimize their own violence against me and my supporters. Instead, I’m just a libertarian, gay, Trump-supporting provocateur who likes to present interesting arguments.”
https://youtu.be/4A2a-XZ_6Fw
Join the conversation as a VIP Member