After Berkeley riots, President Trump threatens to take away federal funds

Berkeley officials also issued several statements both condemning the rhetoric Yiannopoulos typically uses and rejecting calls that the university prevent him from speaking.

Yiannopoulos, posted a message on his Facebook page calling those with opposite view points of his “terrified of free speech” and saying he was evacuated from the campus.

But Dirks also said that Berkeley would be wrong to bar Yiannopoulos from campus. “Things like this discredit peaceful protest”. I mean, really, is it free speech?

The potential for physical danger in reaction to Yiannopoulos came into the spotlight this month after a man was shot and wounded at a protest outside his January 21 University of Washington talk.

After the protest on Wednesday evening by more than 1,500 demonstrators outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Neither MSNBC nor Fox News cut to live coverage.

“This is political violence in response to perfectly mainstream opinions”, he said. In his recent stop at Depaul University, Yiannopoulos mused that “I’ve worked out why there are so many Black girls here”.

Black-clad protesters wearing masks threw commercial-grade fireworks and rocks at police.

There were no immediate reports of arrests or serious injuries, the campus police chief said.

Yiannopoulos has been stirring campus controversies for a year now – and his Breitbart connection has become more controversial, given that website’s links to Donald Trump. “This is Cal. That’s what makes us so great”.

The Breitbart editor and “alt-right” Twitter troll had been invited by the Berkeley College Republicans to address an audience of 500. Nevertheless, if Congress were to follow through on the threat and eliminate federal funding for the university, a big casualty would be the energy lab operated by the school close to the campus in the Berkeley Hills. “We are trying our best to engage in civil debate”.

Wednesday’s event began as expected: Yiannopoulos arrived and protesters swarmed, noting his far-right nationalist sympathies and history of incidents in which he has been accused of waging harassment campaigns. “Usually these are the same people who are arguing for free speech”.

Berkeley administrators expressed regret at having to cancel the speech – the university was the birth place of the free speech movement – but cited concerns about public safety as forcing their hand.

The protests turned violent nearly immediately.

A few thousand people marched to take it back.

Some used police barriers as battering rams to attack the doors of the venue, breaching at least one of the doors and entering the venue on the first floor.

Violent protests broke out at a Californian school last night over plans for conservative Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos to give a speech.

Trump urges the school to honor free speech.