Conservative activist and Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak at University of California – Berkeley on Wednesday evening.
However, his event was cancelled and massive protests and violent demonstrations broke out on campus instead.
The Breitbart News editor [Milo Yiannopoulos] was set to deliver a speech inside a UC Berkeley campus building but hundreds of protesters began throwing fireworks and pulling down the metal barricades police set up to keep people from rushing into the building. Windows were smashed and fires were set outside the building as masked protesters stormed it.The Berkeley Police Department said people threw bricks, smoking objects, and fireworks at police officers. University police locked down all buildings and ordered a shelter in place.“This is what tolerance looks like at UC Berkeley,” said Mike Wright, a Berkeley College Republican member said as smoke bombs went off around him. Someone threw red paint on him.
Yiannopoulous was evacuated, and assured concerned fans he was safe.
As of this report, the demonstrations were not under control.
ABC7’s reporter stated earlier that there have not yet been any attempts to put out the fire, and that police had withdrawn from the balcony above the crowd where they had previously been stationed.According to the reporter, police issued a dispersal order to the crowd, declaring it an unlawful assembly, but they have not yet attempted to move the protesters out of the plaza.
The campus may be looking at the Mizzou effect. In the wake of #BlackLivesMatter protests and social justice activism, enrollments to the University of Missouri plummeted and donations from alumni dropped precipitously.
The tweets indicate that Americans are appalled and angry at the tactics of the demonstrators.
My son is slated to begin submitting college applications in about 2 years. UC Berkeley will not be among the schools to which he applies, and I will make point of sending a note the university explaining why that will include a description of this event.
UC Berkeley is known as the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement that began on American campuses in 1964. It appears that this is where it has gone to die.
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