Thursday, February 2, 2017

HIGHLIGHTS: Violent Protesters Force Cancellation of Milo Yiannopoulous Speech at UC Berkeley

We Are Change

A Milo Yiannopoulos speaking event was cancelled on Wednesday, after violent protests broke out, and protesters started setting parts of the University of California, Berkeley campus on fire.

Antifa members attacked several Trump supporters attending the event. One man was chased down the street and beat with a shovel, while another woman was pepper sprayed in the face after giving an interview.

ATMs and bank windows were smashed by several rioters. A reporter for the Tab was assaulted by “anti-fascist” rioters who tried to steal his phone. A Starbucks was even looted while a protester screamed “F—ck Starbucks! F—cking Zionists!”

Several prominent people have expressed support for the violent riots, including filmmaker Lexi Alexander, Judd Apatow, and comedians Arthur Chu and Patrick Monahan:

A rioter was even ran over as others smashed the driver’s car.

UC Berkeley release statement condemning rioters:

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence and unlawful behavior that was on display, and deeply regret that those tactics will now overshadow the efforts to engage in legitimate and lawful protest against the performer’s presence and perspectives.

The University and the UCPD went to extraordinary lengths to plan for this event and put the appropriate resources in place in order to maintain security. Officials were in contact with other campuses and paid close attention to lessons learned at the speaker’s prior events. Dozens of additional police officers were on duty. Multiple methods of crowd control were in place. Ultimately and unfortunately, however, it was simply impossible to maintain order given the level of threat, disruption, and violence.

We regret that the threats and unlawful actions of a few have interfered with the exercise of First Amendment rights on a campus that is proud of its history and legacy as home of the Free Speech Movement. As Chancellor Dirks made clear in his message to the Berkeley campus community, while Mr. Yiannopoulos views, tactics and rhetoric are profoundly contrary to our own, we are bound by the Constitution, the law, our values, and the campus’s Principles of Community to enable free expression across the full spectrum of opinion and perspective.”

Wednesday’s chaos comes after Yiannopoulos gave a speech in New Mexico last Friday, where he verbally attacked Muslim women in his audience and even mocked them as they left:

What do you think about this story? Let us know in the comments!

The post HIGHLIGHTS: Violent Protesters Force Cancellation of Milo Yiannopoulous Speech at UC Berkeley appeared first on We Are Change.



from We Are Change http://wearechange.org/violent-protesters-force-cancellation-milo-speech-uc-berkeley/
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