Hoping for Another Battle, Nativist Trump Supporters and Antigovernment Extremists Again Descend on Berkeley
BERKELEY, California 鈥斅燗ntigovernment extremists stood shoulder-to-shoulder with "alt-right" extremists聽and anti-feminists. Nearby, a聽ragtag mix of Trump supporters were draped in American flags and decked in helmets stickered with images of Pepe the Frog,聽the popular cartoon frog meme employed by the white nationalist 鈥渁lt-right.鈥澛�
They carried clubs and medical kits, radios and reinforcement in the event of violent skirmishes that have shaken the University of California, Berkeley campus. But by Thursday鈥檚 end, the next chapter in what聽Richard Spencer聽has called 鈥淭he Battle of Berkeley鈥� was a bust.
Police arrested two people at the "free speech"聽event in Berkeley, California 鈥斅爋ne for wearing a mask and another for carrying a knife. But the tensions that have descended on the campus 鈥斅爐urning it into a focal point in the ongoing conflict between the white nationalist聽alt-right and the antifascist 鈥淏lack Bloc鈥� activists 鈥斅爓ere reduced mainly to screams and shouts as anti-Trump protesters gathered in small number.
Those聽standing in support of President Trump and free speech,聽numbering in the hundreds, gathered at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in downtown Berkeley, where they eagerly waited antifascist聽protesters that never came. Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, an antigovernment extremist organization comprised of current and former military and police personnel, brought members of his group to provide security.
鈥淭his is ground zero in the defense of the Constitution and the most important part of it 鈥斅爐he First Amendment. If you don鈥檛 have the right to free speech and assembly, you are not free,鈥� Rhodes said, addressing the audience over a public announcement system.
Rhodes, whose Oath Keepers are animated by a number of antigovernment conspiracy theories, told the audience that the Berkeley Police Department, whose heavily armed presence at the gathering was unavoidable, was working in coordination with Oath Keepers.聽
鈥淕uess who are the cop killers. Who wants to kill the police,鈥� Rhodes said. 鈥淵ou know who they are. They鈥檙e right up the street in black masks. And these officers know it.鈥�
The protest came as a response to the university cancelling a planned speech by conservative commentator Ann Coulter, who promised to come anyway. Two conservative student organizations, the Young America鈥檚 Foundation and the Berkeley College Republicans, filed a federal lawsuit on Monday. Citing a fear of violence, the groups later pulled their backing for Coulter, who ultimately聽cancelled her speech altogether.
鈥淚鈥檓 very sad about Berkeley鈥檚 cancellation, but my sadness is greater than that. It is a dark day for free speech in America,鈥� Coulter said on聽
As the birthplace of the free speech movement decades ago, the debate surrounding Coulter鈥檚 speech put Berkeley in the precarious position of protecting its staff and students while ensuring freedom of speech, especially in a political climate where the possibility of violence between聽alt-right聽extremists and antifascist protesters becomes more frequent. Two previous appearances by far-right and conservative speakers have turned violent at Berkeley, including a protest聽on April 15 that left 11聽聽and six hospitalized. Police arrested 21 people on a variety of charges then.聽
Lawrence Rosenthal, chair and lead researcher of the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies, issued a on the day鈥檚 events. Rosenthal warned people not to be cowed by the alt-right鈥檚 claims of censorship and noted that the university had two concerns to consider in cancelling Coulter's appearance 鈥斅爐he聽unequivocal聽support of free speech聽and security.
鈥淭he situation at the University of California does not conform to the claims of suppression of free speech that conservative politicians and commentators have been trying to tie it to. Neither student groups nor the University administration are responsible for the threats of violence that surround Ann Coulter鈥檚 proposed appearance on this campus,鈥� Rosenthal wrote.
Rosenthal also criticized Spencer for 鈥渆xalt[ing] in the violence,鈥� as he did in a YouTube video recounting the event.
鈥淭he deepest significance of the ongoing 鈥楤attles of Berkeley鈥� is the attempt by the alt-right to move the country toward fascist-anti-fascist violence,鈥� Rosenthal said. 鈥淐onservative politicians and commentators wishing to use the Berkeley situation as a cudgel in the name of the free speech run the risk of enabling the dark goals of the alt-right.鈥�
