Riot shuts down Yiannopoulos speech in Berkeley

February 2, 2017
Milo Yiannopoulos

Milo Yiannopoulos

One night after peace prevailed at Cal Poly, masked rioters shut down a Milo Yiannopoulos event at University of California Berkeley before the speech began.

Yiannopoulos’ speech was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday. But, university officials canceled it around 6 p.m. and the Breitbart editor was evacuated from the campus.

About 150 masked agitators arrived on the Berkeley campus and interrupted an otherwise nonviolent protest consisting of about 1,500 demonstrators, according to the university public affairs office. The agitators set fires, threw commercial-grade fireworks at police officers and used Molotov cocktails to set generator-powered spotlights on fire.

Skirmishes broke out, and video footage showed supporters of President Donald Trump being beaten and pepper sprayed. The rioters also damaged a campus construction site.

As of 9:30 p.m., police did not make any arrests. Some observers, including Yiannopoulos, accused the police of standing down and letting the riot unfold.

The university said there were dozens of additional police officers on duty, and multiple methods of crowd control in place.

No one suffered major injuries, according to the university. About six individuals suffered minor injuries.

Following the riot, Trump published a tweet threatening to cut federal funds to University of California Berkeley.

“If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” Trump tweeted.

“Campus officials regret that the threats and unlawful actions of a few interfered with the exercise of the First Amendment on campus. UC Berkeley has a proud history and legacy as the home of the Free Speech Movement,” according to a university press release.


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This is only the beginning. What do you think it’ll look like if Trump himself ever dares to speak publicly in California.


Milo is a brilliant man that found himself growing up in England where FREE SPEECH is not free but filled with all kinds of rules and regulations. So he came here to the “land of the free” and found us to NOT be FREE because of the Social Justice Utopians (known by other names such as Progressives or just plain Communists).


Milo’s discussion on Abortion will ROCK YOUR WORLD as well as THE WAR ON WOMEN which is fueled by WOMEN (Democrat Women not Republicans)!!


Here is the link to his speech at Cal Poly (written out)


http://www.breitbart.com/milo/2017/01/31/milo-cal-poly-state-university-no-dead-babies/#disqus_thread


His humor allows him to fight back and the Progressive media that promote Gays as a huge percentage of our population, there is always a Gay on every movie and TV series and if you are not Gay today you will be tomorrow but Milo cannot be accepted by the Progressives even though he is Gay but because he fails to be a Communist and chooses FREEDOM and LIBERTY over their manipulative hold over the Gay population!!!


We are in a Second Civil War! And only a few understand this!


Suggest all Google recent article by Dennis Prager entitled America’s Second Civil War.


Yes we can’t free the slaves because that would empower them to be self-reliant. We must not let the pro-governance movement slow down and sustain the freebees for the illegal immigrants in exchange for the votes that their families and friends provide.


Yes history is repeating itself and the power wheeling Dems continue to ride on the backs of the working class Dems to cloak their agenda, total control. Total control as in what your governance wants you to do not what you can do for your country. In my opinion it is very important that the decision of you can do for your country remains your decision.


I once was a working class Dem and now, for decades, I am proud to be a working class Republican. Until I became a property owner I did not realize the tug-a-war between private and governance control.


Newsflash… the south never lost the first civil war. In fact, the south is currently making a strong comeback. Make America look like 1850 again.


Milo is a gay dude. He’s a Brit immigrant. He’s flamboyant. Why the intolerant hatred and anger?


Because the Left is not really pro-anything, they are just anti-conservative. They want total government control over everything. And they use social issues (most that they themselves create) to gain that control. And a lot (most) people fall for it.


The day Milo spoke in San Luis Obispo, I said that the real threat to American order and our way of life is not from Trump, Milo’s New Right, the Alt Right, or any right wing movement. I stated that what imperils America is the violent and radical left, which is now openly engaging in violence, anarchy, and rioting against its opponents.


Leftists have seen one too many bad Hollywood revenge fantasies like Inglorious Basterds and seem to think its OK to physically attack political opponents and destroy property whenever controversial figures like Milo and Richard Spencer are present.


President Trump must hold UC Berkeley responsible by threatening to withdraw the University’s federal funding if UCB will not protect free speech and assembly.


Likening the entire left to a handful of black bloc anarchists is no different than comparing the entire right to neo-nazis. Please be wary of media outlets that push such a narrative (they do this on both the right and the left). I hear you though when it comes to protesting — people (young people especially) on both sides of the spectrum need to learn how to effectively get their point across. Insulting people and carrying on like you can force them to believe what you do is usually counter productive. They need to learn that it’s all about dialogue. Given berkeley’s history, they should have known better.


Question; why won’t any of the Democratic leadership (Obama, Biden, Clinton, Pelosi, etc.) condemn this violent behavior?


It’s my opinion that establishment democrats are paid by their donors to fall in line with a narrative that seeks to divide and conquer all working class Americans. Special interests own both the right and the left, and what we see is just theater.


And the people who get hurt and the businesses that get destroyed are just collateral damage?


They all condemn this violent behavior.


It’s easy to slap on a label and then pass judgment based on the label you apply. Adam Hill does this all the time. More relevant would be to talk with our local kids who are enrolled at Berkeley. The kids decided to do something positive – along the lines of Heidi Harmon’s ‘don’t fight – invite a neighbor whose views differ from yours to a potluck’ – 1,000 students held a dance party on the steps of Sproul Hall. 150 anarchists started shooting fireworks into the crowd. The kids say, ‘Thank God the police didn’t interpret it as gunshots.’ Berkeley is a sitting duck – the perfect scapegoat for that kind of activity.


Protest “fascism” by being fascists? Methinks the “agitators” know what they are doing and using the “shut down hate speech” works on simpletons.


Well, it sure won them a lot of elections this time around. Oh wait.


I hope they keep being who they actually are, maybe we can clean house at all levels of government!


Someone with some authority should look into the vast difference between the abundant public safety precautions taken at Cal Poly versus the nonexistent ones at Cal Berkeley.


Berkeley was either incompetent or there was a conscious decision made to facilitate a riot. Either way there needs to be a housecleaning at Berkeley.


Here is the difference. Cal Poly still has many right wing students, particularly in the AG Department. Protestors were not going to try any attacks on innocent women in SLO with the Cal Poly aggies nearby.


No. The difference CPSLO had a huge police presence. If the exact same thing happened in SLO that happened in Berkeley, it would have been put down given CPSLO’s preparation and resources.


Berkeley has some of the right’s best minds, and a strong Young Republican following. Last I heard, their president was gay. CalPoly doesn’t have a corner on young conservatives.


San Luis Obispo was not going to make national news, so no Soros money for imported “protestors” to inflame the snowflakes at Berkley. At least, that would be my guess. The left is all about “optics” and “message” – very little in the way of substance or depth.


Maybe the shows were too close together time-wise and Soros had to choose where to sen his minions?


“San Luis Obispo was not going to make national news…”


Says who?


Thank you for making it clear the Berkeley students were not the ones causing issues. I was amazed that the vast majority stayed behind the small barriers even after the ANTIFAs breached them. From what I saw it looked more like 25-50 instigators who ran in right around 6pm. It would be nice if outsiders somehow could be held responsible for the damage they caused, but without arresting these thugs they are not being held responsible. I dislike Milo but as an old hippie from the free speech years at Berkeley I believe in his right to be an ass. I do think that reporting should be accurate, as your was, that the blame does not belong on the protesters, just like all Milo supporters should be blamed for the shooting at UW, or all trump supporters should be blamed for the attack on Muslims in Canada. We should be aware though that hate speech on any side incites these people and there are better ways of getting your point across.


I don’t understand why there are so many “thumbs down” for your comments. Would any of those who did so care to explain?


The far right Canadian who attacked Muslims in Canada cannot and was not characterized as a Trump supporter. Why would you automatically assume that Trump supporters in the US could be blamed for his actions? It’s insulting to law abiding conservatives who may be Trump supporters.


“We should be aware though that hate speech on any side incites these people….” What exactly is “hate speech” and if you’re for free speech, then you have to accept speech that you don’t agree with or might offend you.Conservatives are really tired of being name called and harassed by the far left for everything they say. That’s why, IMO, people voted your comment down.


So, I agree with most of what you say, and I did know that the rioters were thought to be black bloc (dressed in black with masks) outsiders (then, again, no one was arrested so we don’t know who they were). When I watched the videos, I didn’t see any police reaction to the rioters. That is what bothered me. Were the police told to stand down? We’ll never know who these thugs were and they got away with shutting down free speech.