Violent Protests Erupt at UC-Berkeley Over Speech
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Posted On: 02/02/2017 7:27:07 AM
Violent Protests Erupt at UC-Berkeley Over Speech by Breitbart Editor
Conservative activist and journalist Milo Yiannopoulos was forced to cancel a speaking engagement at the University of California-Berkeley Wednesday night after violent protests broke out, Trace Gallagher reported on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
The college's police department placed the campus on lockdown.
Yiannopoulos, a Breitbart News editor, called into "Tucker Carlson Tonight," and told Carlson that college liberals have a "big free speech problem" and that they "hate any libertarian or conservative" viewpoint.
He said that shortly after he arrived at the facility at which he was to speak, other people began arriving in black clothes and masks.
Rocks were thrown, the ground floor of the building was "breached" and my private security evacuated me, Yiannopoulos said.
He pointed out the perceived irony that such a massive protest that tamped down on his free speech rights happened on an American college campus where "we should be able to hear all [sides]."
"I am not a scary far-right neo-Nazi," he said., "the left is now acting like a dog that has just been kicked and knows it is about to get another one to the head."
"The left is profoundly antithetical to free speech these days, does not want to hear alternative points of view," he added.
Carlson pointed out that the protesters were able to "speak" but Yiannopoulos, who came specifically to speak, was not allowed to.
The UC-Berkeley Public Affairs Office issued a statement:
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.
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 Nicholas Dirks made clear in his message to the Berkeley campus community, while 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.
Conservative activist and journalist Milo Yiannopoulos was forced to cancel a speaking engagement at the University of California-Berkeley Wednesday night after violent protests broke out, Trace Gallagher reported on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
The college's police department placed the campus on lockdown.
Yiannopoulos, a Breitbart News editor, called into "Tucker Carlson Tonight," and told Carlson that college liberals have a "big free speech problem" and that they "hate any libertarian or conservative" viewpoint.
He said that shortly after he arrived at the facility at which he was to speak, other people began arriving in black clothes and masks.
Rocks were thrown, the ground floor of the building was "breached" and my private security evacuated me, Yiannopoulos said.
He pointed out the perceived irony that such a massive protest that tamped down on his free speech rights happened on an American college campus where "we should be able to hear all [sides]."
"I am not a scary far-right neo-Nazi," he said., "the left is now acting like a dog that has just been kicked and knows it is about to get another one to the head."
"The left is profoundly antithetical to free speech these days, does not want to hear alternative points of view," he added.
Carlson pointed out that the protesters were able to "speak" but Yiannopoulos, who came specifically to speak, was not allowed to.
The UC-Berkeley Public Affairs Office issued a statement:
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.
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 Nicholas Dirks made clear in his message to the Berkeley campus community, while 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.
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