Gang of Masked Thugs Attack Conservative Student Group Event At UC Davis
“One demonstrator struck someone who approached the table with a cell phone. … Other demonstrators pulled down the tent and engaged in shoving with those staffing the tent.”
A group of masked “protestors” attacked members of the conservative student organization Turning Point USA at UC Davis as they were setting up for a “Prove Me Wrong” event on Thursday. Approximately 30 individuals descended on the group, carrying a banner that read “ACAB,” an acronym that stands for “All Cops Are B**tards.” They proceeded to dismantle the students’ tent, destroy camera equipment, and reportedly assaulted a middle-aged woman who attempted to intervene.
The event, which ultimately went forward, took place at the Memorial Union Quad on the UC Davis campus and featured former police officer and YouTuber Brandon Tatum.
Tatum later posted a video of the attack on X with the caption, “This is what mostly peaceful looks like.”
Wow. A gang of masked thugs physically attacked a middle-aged woman and destroy a booth where people are exercising their First Amendment rights at UC Davis. The police response is lackadaisical, to say the least.pic.twitter.com/kjLgqNXK3r
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) April 4, 2025
In a post on X, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk reported that the violent protestors “stole the canopy, ripped down banners, smashed foam boards, and even tried to steal the iPad and laptop of a @tpusastudents field rep.”
According to Kirk, “TPUSA students were shoved and had objects thrown at them—while police did nothing. Only after the damage was done did law enforcement finally form a perimeter. This is the reality of free speech on campus.”
In the second clip below, the protestors are heard chanting, “Antifascista! A! Anti!”
"Antifascista! A! Anti!" chanted the protesters while violently approaching TPUSA students and staff@tpusastudents pic.twitter.com/3uA5Qp0RSb
— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) April 3, 2025
Fox News reported:
One demonstrator struck someone who approached the table with a cell phone, the school said. Other demonstrators pulled down the tent and engaged in shoving with those staffing the tent and others nearby. The protesters left the area before returning minutes later and trying to remove a tent.
The university defended the police in a statement to Fox which read in part:
The UC Davis Police Department took one report of an assault. No one requested medical aid. The event with the guest speaker took place on schedule and was completed without further incident. The university protected the free speech rights of the campus community throughout the event.
Chancellor Gary S. May issued a statement the following day in which he strongly denounced the violence that had occurred, calling it “appalling and completely unacceptable.” He promised that “all steps will be taken to hold those who were responsible accountable for their actions.”
He said he had initiated:
[A] full independent review of the incident. If it is determined that any UC Davis students or employees were involved in this vicious attack, they will face disciplinary action in accordance with university disciplinary policies. Individuals may also be held criminally responsible through the justice system.
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig also released a statement on Friday in which he expressed his firm commitment “to investigate this matter and bring all the offenders to justice.”
“There are clear indications from the evidence, including video footage of the crime, that this was a coordinated effort, which makes it a felony under California law. Conviction of such a crime carries up to three years imprisonment,” the statement said.
It would be nice to believe these officials are serious, but frankly, I’m skeptical and I wonder how quickly this incident gets swept under the rug.
In remarks to Fox News about the incident, Kirk called UC at Davis the “most militant school in the country, with the largest Antifa presence.”
“When I spoke there in March of 2023,” he said, “Antifa foot soldiers vandalized the school, smashed windows and fought the police. What we have is a pattern, with no signs of improvement.”
Responding to one of Kirk’s posts about this latest episode, Elon Musk wrote: “The left is the party of violence & hate.”
He’s right of course. Violence and hate have become their brand.
The left is the party of violence & hate https://t.co/8mVZlXEP2F
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2025
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
These are the same pro free speech people right demanding the Palestinian clown from Columbia stay in the US? Right so is it pro free speech or pro violence? Looks like the later.
Police still cowered by Cultural Marxists. Not surprising on a college campus.
Campus cops exist for one reason: to mess with the students and write parking tickets.
“all steps will be taken to hold those who were responsible accountable for their actions.”
I hope that includes the campus police, from the top down.
You know if the police are going to just stand there and not do their job they might as well be defunded.
That is their job… to stand there.
If you think their job on campus is “to protect and to serve,” then all I can do is laugh hysterically….
Ask the folks at Marjorie Stoneman and in Uvalde how it works.
Hey, did you track what happened to the Coward of Broward?
Nothing. For a long time.
Then he lost his job.
Then he sued.
Then a judge gave him his job back.
Hooray for the status quo.
Police are under no legal obligation to do anything. See Riss v New York, Warren v District of Columbia, others…
That’s a dangerous standard because it means in a partisan location, one side can violate the law with impunity, while the other side cannot even defend themselves without being arrested for involvement in a criminal act.
For instance if TPUSA students used tasers or mace against their attackers, who would the police have arrested? They were obviously fine with the black shirts attacking and remaining anonymous. But if conservative andor Jewish students carry weapons on campus because they need protection …
Why do you think the NRA exists? Because racist democrat police wouldn’t stop the racist democrat KKK.
Actually it exists because a Union General (post war) wanted to remedy the piss-poor state of marksmanship among northern boys, who were outshot by the Southern hillbillies every damn time.
But yes, they also did yeoman work with the Deacons For Defense shortly after that, to their great historical credit.
Then we should make common cause with the progressives and defund them. Then we should demand a lowering of our taxes and use that money to hire private security for our communities,
The problem with that stance and those decisions is that they invalidate the social compact that justifies the existence of government itself. A government that will not manage and contain conflicts leaves its citizens no choice but to revert to the habits they would have if government didn’t exist: violence met with violence. That is its primary purpose — core to the reason for government itself.
The purpose of government is to defend the entirety of society from threats, either external or internal. It has no specific responsibility for the individusl citizen, hence one of the reasons for the Second Amendment.
Yes, Curiously, it’s the same handwaving gaslighting that the government used to emasculate the Second Amendment.* Your police protection, just like the Second Amendment, is a COLLECTIVE right, not an individual one. It applies to EVERYONE, while at the same time it doesn’t specifically apply to YOU.
*Describing the legal state of the 2A before Heller, of course, which killed the “collective right” bullshit for good.
You’re absolutely right. They can stand there laughing while you get killed, and cheer on your assailants, and no court will hold them accountable. That’s been litigated many times, and thats yet another reason why 2A is so important.
Lawlessness in front of and ignored by LEO is a definitive sign of the decline of the area. Mob violence, clearly coordinated and planned in advance, allowed to run wild and set the limits for society through violence, fear and intimidation has become the defacto gov’t in some areas.
can remember when mainting order and civility was de rigeur for any peace officer be it apd or ut campus police–if occurring in their absence was incumbent and expected for those present to take a hand and calm things/people down
believe the reluctance of peace officers to perform one of their fundamental responsibilities is due to the unchecked and unethical lawfare practiced against them by unethical / unchecked fools with an aa/mail-in/ or “comped” jd out to put on a show / make a dishonest buck or both–sworn ” officers of the court “–bullshit
to threaten/ interfere with (or worse) an officer’s efforts to perform their sworn duty (such as keeping the peace or maintaining the safety of the general public) should carry at least the penalty of disbarment as well as the prospect of incarceration–then and only then,will you see a significant change in the ” de facto ” state of law enforcement in this country
Maybe these thugs could be housed in El Salvador. For entertainment they could be given some pagers.
Leftists and Dhimmi-crats are thuggish totalitarians. They know that their policy proposals are destructive and idiotic. These reprobates are incapable of defending their platform on the merits and thus predictably resort to violence, thuggery and intimidation.
The irony of defund the po po was the 30% increase in the murders of blacks by other blacks. One has to wonder whether this was an unintended or intended consequence.
The police only act when the Left is threatened. It’s the Portland Way. But tell that to a liberal and they will call you a White Supremacist.
Seems like an FBI domestic terrorism task force could handle this situation. Have an FBI swat team concealed near by and when the thugs do their thing arrest them and transport them to a new federal domestic terrorism court in Texas, Arkansas or Oklahoma.
It would not be surprising if some of these masked clowns have been arrested at other riots. Put pressure on them with the prospect of long sentences to get evidence against the leaders and funder.s. Conspiracy and RICO charges would be a great example to other would be revolutionists.
You’re right. Conspiracy to deny others a civil right, in this case free speech, is a crime subject to enhanced RICO penalties.
Democrats in action again wearing masks.
You got so.e bad parenting going on here.
Raised by deranged, sh*tlib single mothers who never held them accountable for anything.
Predictably, once again, Kaiser’s Maxim is undefeated: “The left will always, eventually, resort to violence, threats of violence, or glorification of violence to advance their agenda. Always.”
Seems like it would be really easy to bait these morons into an ambush and bash their fu*king skulls in.
Police would have intervened then.
Yes. They’re really good at that. Just ask Andy Ngo.
Hunting over bait is illegal in most jurisdictions…
Did any of the conservatives fight back?
They probably would have been arrested if they had, and remember it was black shirt mob versus small numbers.
And give the Davis PD an excuse to crack their skulls? Negro, please…
This is the Open Society of Karl Popper and George Soros.
I know that it is not incumbent upon them to have to do so but why don’t these pu$$!3s defend themselves? Other than the guy pushing down the chick with the bike I saw no one throwing hands, swinging pipes or deploying pepper spray.
At least the headline calls them “masked thugs.” We really need to get away from allowing figures in the media to put us in the habit of calling people who intimidate, harass, assault and destroy “protestors.” Once the intimidation, violence, and property destruction start, they are simply thugs and vandals. In this very case, it seems like it started immediately, so there was no point at which they were ever “protestors.”
This won’t stop happening until they are afraid.
Until the right MAKES them afraid.
I guess California doesn’t have KKK laws, huh? Commission of felonies while masked.