Violent protesting erupted on the campus of California University, Berkeley just ahead of a scheduled speech by controversial Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos.
According to NBC News, the university said that there were fires set, commercial-grade fireworks were being thrown at police and a group of people were seen taking a metal barricade and smashing it against a door.
UC Berkeley said in a statement, “The violence was instigated by a group of about 150 masked agitators who came onto campus and interrupted an otherwise non-violent protest. Some people were attacked and police treated six people for injuries.”
The university said there were around 1,500 people outside the venue when the event was called off around 6pm local time.
Many critics of Yiannopoulos said that he is known to make offensive comments that are related to race and religion. Last year he was banned from Twitter after harassing actress Leslie Jones.
This is the second event involving Yiannopoulos that has been cancelled due to protests. The last occurred UC Davis in January.
Donald Trump tweeted about the situation on Thursday and said, “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?”
If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
Read more about the incident here.
