Just when you think the University of California, Berkeley can’t be any dumber, wham, they do something even dumber.
Conservative activist Joey Gibson, leader of a group called Patriot Prayer, who canceled a rally at San Francisco’s Crissy Field last month after threats of violence, spoke Tuesday at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza. Only about 50 people showed up, so no big deal, right?
Wrong. As Berkeley has done repeatedly, they over-prepared. They had an “empathy tent” set up as a place where protesters could find a calm place to unwind amid the expected chaos around them.
And as always, things didn’t go as planned. A fight broke out in the “empathy tent,” with conservative students and leftist activists clashing to the point where the tent almost fell over, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A few counter-protesters from the the liberal group By Any Means Necessary confronted and shouted at the Trump supporters. Scuffles broke out.
At least three people were arrested as the crowd marched from the campus to People’s Park. Among them was Yvette Felarca, an organizer with By Any Means Necessary.
Trump supporters cheered at the arrests and continued to People’s Park, where Gibson climbed onto a wooden stage and spoke to the crowd without interruption.
He declared that he and his group, Patriot Prayer, would keep returning to Berkeley until they “respect free speech.”
The Daily Mail reported that “anti-fascist counter-protesters” tried to shut down the event. And the Mail said that four people were arrested, including left-wing activist Yvonne Felarca, for battery and resisting arrest.
There have been four violent protests on the campus in recent months, prompting college officials and local police to step up security. The university reportedly spent $600,000 to make sure protests didn’t turn violent earlier this month when Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro spoke on campus.
Tuesday’s protest came after Milo Yiannopoulos’ planned “Free Speech Week” at the campus was canceled.