DAVIS, California — A planned appearance by far-right figure Milo Yiannopoulos sparked violent protests Wednesday night at UC Berkeley, leading to the cancellation of the event.
According to SFGate.com, protesters began throwing fireworks and pulling down metal barriers set up by police outside the building where Yiannopoulos was set to speak.
Masked protesters rushed the building and smashed windows, and fires were set outside the building, sfgate.com reports. They also threw bricks, fireworks and smoking objects at police.
A bonfire set by demonstrators protesting a scheduled speaking appearance by Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos burns Wednesday night on Sproul Plaza on the University of California at Berkeley campus in Berkeley, Calif.Ben Margot, Associated Press
The Los Angeles Times reports most of the campus was put on lockdown as protesters clashed with police. Police used a loudspeaker to tell protesters that Yiannopoulos had left the campus and fired rubber bullets into the crowd, but protesters were refusing to disperse, reports say.
Someone threw red paint on Berkeley College Republican member Mike Wright as he spoke with a reporter, sfgate.com reports.
“This is what tolerance looks like at UC Berkeley,” Wright said.
This is not the first time that an appearance by Yiannopoulos has sparked protests. UC Davis canceled a planned speech by the Brietbart writer last month.
Yiannopoulos posted a message on his Facebook page that he had not been harmed in the protests.
“One thing we do know for sure: the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down,” he wrote.
An organizer of the protest, Mukund Rathi, tells abc7news.com that Yiannopoulos’ rhetoric is hateful and has no place on a college campus.
“Chancellor Dirks in his statement said the Constitution does not allow him to restrict free speech, and that’s not true,” Rathi said. “Universities restrict free speech all the time for educational and security reasons.”
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