Violent protest forces cancelation of Breitbart provocateur's speech at UC Berkeley

Protesters shut down Breitbart editor speech at UC Berkeley
(Image credit: AP/YouTube)

College Republican clubs keep inviting Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos to speak on campuses, and demonstrators keep coming out to protest the polarizing self-proclaimed internet troll and alt-right provocateur. One protester was shot outside a Yiannopoulos speech at the University of Washington on Jan. 20, and demonstrators shut down a speech he was supposed to give at the University of California at Davis a week earlier. On Wednesday night, police at UC Berkeley scrapped a planned Yiannopoulos speech two hours beforehand due to a large protest that turned violent.

Some 1,500 protesters had been gathered peacefully outside the venue when a small group wearing black showed up and started breaking windows and throwing stuff; they also lit a huge bonfire. "This was a group of agitators who were masked up, throwing rocks, commercial grade fireworks, and Molotov cocktails at officers," said UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennet. Under those conditions, police couldn't guarantee Yiannopoulos' safety. There were no immediate reports of serious injury or arrests. By 8 p.m., the final 100 or so protesters danced off campus to a brass band. You can watch some of the mayhem below. Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.