A mob of protesters calling themselves “anti-fascists” and covering their faces with bandanas and masks converged on a Milo Yiannopoulos speaking event on the campus of UC Berkeley on Wednesday and through violence, vandalism, and threats forced the event to be shut down. Once again, through violence and disruption, the far-left managed to crush free speech and prove themselves to be the true fascists.
The 500-ticket event was part of the Breitbart News editor’s “Dangerous Faggot” speaking tour and was to include his announcement of a new effort he and the David Horowitz Freedom Center are launching against “sanctuary universities,” or universities that deliberately defy federal law by protecting illegal immigrants.
The mob of hundreds of rioters, armed with various blunt weapons and shields, hurled bricks and other dangerous objects at police officers, committed arson, and beat up pro-Milo and pro-Trump attendees and counter protesters. Police were eventually compelled to use rubber bullets and completely shut down the event.
But, as SF Gate notes, “even after the event’s cancellation, hundreds of protesters spilled off campus into the city streets, where the violence continued as they confronted drivers, engaged in fights, smashed storefront windows and set fires.”
The rioters destroyed local businesses, including a Starbucks, yelling “F*ck Starbucks! F*cking Zionists!,” spray-painted “Kill Trump” and “Kill Fascists” on buildings, leapt on moving cars, sprayed pepper spray at pro-Trump anti-protesters, and beat people with poles.
All this because a gay conservative dared speak his mind on college campus.
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SF Gate provides some of the details of how the chaos unfolded:
The trouble began around 6 p.m., two hours before Yiannopoulos was to begin his speech inside the student union building on Sproul Plaza. Protesters outside the building began throwing fireworks and pulling down the metal barricades police set up to keep protesters from rushing inside. Windows were smashed and fires were set outside the building as masked protesters stormed it. Police quickly evacuated Yiannopoulos for his own safety.
Berkeley police said five people were injured and some people, including a man who said he had hoped to see Yiannopoulos speak, were seen with their faces bloodied. There were no arrests.
Police said protesters threw bricks and fireworks at police officers. University police locked down all buildings and told people inside them to shelter in place, and later fired pepper balls and paint balls into the crowd of protesters who defied orders to leave the area. Police called in support from nine of the 10 UC campuses and the Oakland Police Department and Alameda County sheriffs department.
In a moment that truly captured the reality of the fascistic nature of the “anti-fascist” left, when one of the Berkeley College Republicans, Mike Wright, addressed the violence of mob outside the student union, he was nearly injured by a hurled object. “This is what tolerance looks like at UC Berkeley,” said Wright. Right then, an anti-free speech “protester” threw a glass bottle filled with red paint at him, shattering on him. “It’s sad,” he said.
At another point during the riot, one megaphone-holding protester denied that this had anything to do with free speech, declaring, “It’s not a question of free speech! It’s about real human beings!”
One Muslim UC Berkeley student, Fatima Ibrahim, 20, carrying a “RESIST FEAR” sign that included an image of a red fist, suggested that having Milo and conservatives like him on her campus was too “hurtful” to allow. “As a black Muslim woman, all three of those identities have been targeted throughout (Trump’s) campaign. To have someone like (Yiannopoulos) come into my campus and affirm those people’s beliefs, it’s very, very hurtful.”
In an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson after the event (below), Milo said, “Free speech is under serious threat on American college campuses from the progressive left, from the social justice left.”
The College Republicans issued a statement Wednesday night declaring that free speech on colleges was dead.
“It is tragic that the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement is also its final resting place,” read the statement.
And they’re right.
Milo’s exchange with Carlson:
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Daily Wire’s John Nolte: “Domestic Terrorism Hits UC Berkeley and Our Media Only Encourages More“