Leftist Riot Du Jour - UC Berkeley

[Forty Two]

Milo Yianopoulis was set to, gasp, speak at an event at UC Berkeley. Angry leftists are against that sort of thing, so they threw rocks, set fires, assaulted and battered in order to stop that sort of thing. Can't have people we don't like expressing opinions on campus. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/0 ... ulos-talk/

They broke down barricades...they shot fireworks at people...they beat people unconscious... they set fires...they threw rocks... they got in people's faces screaming profanities and threatening people with violence....

Meanwhile, across campus, safe rooms were afforded to people who felt unsafe by the mere presence of Milo Yiannopouls on campus. The rioters were made to feel "unsafe" by opinions they didn't like. The UC Berkely students who felt unsafe because of the riots were ordered to leave.

Here, a man made the rioters "feel unsafe", so they beat him unconscious. http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/02 ... ley-riots/

[Forty Two]

Violence against women? http://www.breitbart.com/milo/2017/02/0 ... ley-riots/

When it's a "progressive" meting out vigilante "justice" it's o.k. This was truth to power in the form of a man pepper spraying a woman in the face.

[Forty Two]

Holy shit, man.... http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/02/0 ... ley-riots/

[Svartalf]

it's breitbart, it's alternative fact, nothing to do wxith truth.

[Strontium Dog]

Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter for the serial harassment and abuse of other people.

Forty Two, you seem upset that Milo is getting a taste of his own medicine?

[Brian Peacock]

You don't have to be a 'leftist' to riot btw. The category error may be your strong suit 42, but to suggest that everyone who shares a particular point of view automatically agrees with or endorses the actions of others who share that view is fallacious.

[Forty Two]

it's breitbart, it's alternative fact, nothing to do wxith truth.

Got it. The riots didn't happen and weren't an attempt silence a speaker on campus. It's Breitbart. All lies.

[Forty Two]

Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter for the serial harassment and abuse of other people.

One, if that were true, what would that have to do with rioting to stop him from speaking on campus? Convicted murderers have done speeches on campuses, regularly, as do a variety of other convicted felons.

Two, nobody, not even Twitter, suggested that Milo himself engaged in any harassment. If you know anything about that incident, then you know that Twitter knocked him off based on a "Terms of Service" allegation, with no opportunity to defend or appeal, and there was no evidence made public of anyone harassing and abusing anyone.

Forty Two, you seem upset that Milo is getting a taste of his own medicine?

Milo's medicine is to speak his mind, and write and say what he wants. A taste of his own medicine would be if someone else spoke their mind, and wrote and said what they wanted, in kind.

It is more than a bit absurd, patently absurd, to suggest that what the rioters did at UC Berkeley yesterday constituted a taste of Milo's medicine. You can't really be serious about that. Are you?

[Forty Two]

You don't have to be a 'leftist' to riot btw.

You don't have to be, but lots of leftists tend to defend that conduct, as long as it is the correct people being beaten and abused. Why would your reaction to this incident not be the same as your reaction as it would be if you saw Trump supporters doing the same thing (which there are zero instances of anything like this, but think about it as a hypothetical).

The category error may be your strong suit 42, but to suggest that everyone who shares a particular point of view automatically agrees with or endorses the actions of others who share that view is fallacious.

The error is on your part. I have not suggested that everyone of any group shares exactly the same points of view.

I haven't suggested who endorses what, or who opposes what. Of the folks who frequent this forum, such as yourself, all are free to type in a comment as to what their position is on it.

[Brian Peacock]

You don't have to be a 'leftist' to riot btw.

You don't have to be, but lots of leftists tend to defend that conduct, as long as it is the correct people being beaten and abused. Why would your reaction to this incident not be the same as your reaction as it would be if you saw Trump supporters doing the same thing (which there are zero instances of anything like this, but think about it as a hypothetical).

Again, why do you constantly conflate my opposition to Trump and his ilk with de facto support for political violence? I've offered at least two qualifications of my views on this matter since the new year and yet you still assume that I would apply a different standard depending on who was on which side of the shoe. That is a bogus, spurious, and specious assumption.

The category error may be your strong suit 42, but to suggest that everyone who shares a particular point of view automatically agrees with or endorses the actions of others who share that view is fallacious.

The error is on your part. I have not suggested that everyone of any group shares exactly the same points of view.

I haven't suggested who endorses what, or who opposes what. Of the folks who frequent this forum, such as yourself, all are free to type in a comment as to what their position is on it.

The category error is in raising the spectre of 'the leftist' as a degenerate and violently inclined group, defining people you disagree with into that group, and then lambasting, criticising, and mocking them on the basis of their membership of that group. It's a classic ad hom wrapped inside a transparent strawman.

[AvtomatKalashnikova]

it's breitbart, it's alternative fact, nothing to do wxith truth.

Got it. The riots didn't happen and weren't an attempt silence a speaker on campus. It's Breitbart. All lies.

Is journalism of same top quality as Pravda!

[Tero]

Leftists at Berkeley in the street. KKK in the White House. Tradition! Black folks have a long way to go. Forget the rap junk. Never gonna rap your way to the White House.

[Brian Peacock]

BERKELEY — Masked rioters dressed head-to-toe in black got the blame Thursday for co-opting an otherwise peaceful protest at UC Berkeley, forcing the cancellation of a planned speech by the controversial right-wing provocateur, Milo Yiannopoulos, according to campus officials, police and students.

The group of roughly 100 to 150 people moved as a unit up Bancroft Way on Wednesday evening before infiltrating the estimated 1,500 to 2,000 peaceful demonstrators participating in a dance party and protest at Sproul Plaza, said UC Berkeley police Sgt. Sabrina Reich. She called the group “black bloc anarchists,” a term used to describe the militant tactics, black dress, masked faces and aggressive actions of a particular sect of political activists.
Immediately, the group started throwing rocks, M-80 fireworks and gas grenades at police, Reich said, though no officers reported any injuries. The group also tore down barricades outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union building, where Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak, set off flares and lit a generator on fire, which singed a nearby tree.

“It was a peaceful crowd,” Reich said of the demonstration that began in the late afternoon. “Certainly folks were chanting, and they were vocal about their opinions in opposition to the speaker being there, but everything was lawful up until this group … marched onto campus.”

The demonstration was initially booked as a dance party that was meant to deflect attention from the Breitbart News editor known for his anti-feminist, anti-trans and anti-Muslim comments. Senior Zack Brooks didn’t believe any of the black bloc anarchists are affiliated with the university and he said he was disappointed they co-opted the peaceful protest, which he said made the students look like fascists who don’t support free speech. Indeed, much of the coverage of the protests nationally has stated or implied that students were behind the violence.

“To me, the most disappointing thing is how this is going to be portrayed based on the actions of a small subgroup of people who do not share the same political tenets as the demonstrators who were here originally,” Brooks said.

UC Berkeley officials on Thursday condemned the violent protests “in the strongest possible terms.”

“We deeply regret that the violence unleashed by this group undermined the First Amendment rights of the speaker, as well as those who came to lawfully assemble and protest his presence,” university spokesman Dan Mogulof said in a statement.

While some have asked whether law enforcement should have been more prepared for the fracas, Reich said UC police brought in “dozens” of extra officers from campuses throughout the state and instituted crowd-control measures to try to prevent what happened, including metal barricades and extensive preparation with university officials and the Berkeley College Republicans, who hosted the event, prior to Yiannopoulos’ arrival. Ultimately, she said there was no way to prepare for “100 anarchists coming onto campus.”

“There was no way we could have anticipated that,” Reich said. “We certainly knew the speaker was not a popular one, and that’s why we went above and beyond in our preparation.”

Several students said that while they disagree with the views Yiannopoulos espouses, they didn’t think shutting down the event was the right tactic. A better response, said freshman Freya Zhu, would have been to let Yiannopoulos speak.

“Even if I might not like what he says or what he claims to say … if you obstruct him, it still serves his purpose even more so than if they had not obstructed him,” she said.

Ultimately, officials said they canceled the event for Yiannopoulos’ safety. Yiannopoulos posted a message on his Facebook page after his evacuation.

“One thing we do know for sure,” he wrote while describing his evacuation from the campus, “the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down.”

The quote did not appear on his Facebook page early Thursday.

Rather than supporting the views of students protesting what they described as Yiannopoulos’ hate speech, the demonstrators played right into the alt-right’s hand, said sophomore Andy Jaime.

“I really think the speaker did this to undermine the Left,” he said.

Before news spread of the cancellation, the agitators grew more unruly, breaking windows, and setting a generator ablaze outside the venue. Hundreds spread out downtown, with some people smashing plate glass doors and windows of several banks and businesses and ATMs, which security guards inside could only watch.

Businesses cleaned up late Wednesday night and Thursday, with many comparing the damage to the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protest in 2015.

Lance Goree, the operations manager for the Downtown Berkeley Association, started his day at 4 a.m., painting over graffiti, sweeping broken glass and helping businesses board up their windows.

“The message of the protest starts getting lost, and I think that’s the saddest thing,” he said. “Because that’s an important part of free speech as well.”

Downtown Berkeley Association Executive Director John Caner called the damage “unfortunate.” Protesters vandalized 11 businesses, targeting banks and corporate chains, he said.

UC police made three arrests — all nonstudents — during the protest. Edward Thomas Kuo, 19, was taken in on suspicion of failing to disperse Wednesday. Early Thursday morning, two men were arrested for assaulting two Berkeley College Republicans who were conducting an interview in front of Sproul Plaza.

Berkeley police spokesman Officer Byron White said two people filed reports of battery but that his department made no arrests. Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Union Bank, Mechanics Bank, Starbucks, T-Mobile, and Sprint were all targeted, Caner said, and White said protesters tagged with graffiti a UC art museum across from the Starbucks.

Mogulof said the violence should not deter students from practicing their right to free speech and peaceful assembly, and they remain committed to creating a campus that encompasses those values.

“We are now, and will remain in the future, completely committed to free speech as essential to our educational mission,” Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said in an email, “and a vital component of our identity.”

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.eastba ... tests/amp/

[pErvinalia]

I've tried to explain black block anarchists to him before. I don't think it penetrated.

[Galaxian]

Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter for the serial harassment and abuse of other people.
Forty Two, you seem upset that Milo is getting a taste of his own medicine?

What kind of a dickhead statement is that?
The riot & assault was done with the express support of the police, who stood out of the way (see the videos). The police had plenty of justification, if they chose to use it, of arresting all balaclava/masked assailants, and shoot if resisted. Heavens, they shoot to kill traffic violators & youth walking away, so why the pussy-footing with murderous thugs who routinely show up at such events.
Pretty soon the opposition will react, and it won't be a pretty sight. The piss-weak fascist rioters will be mowed down. Then they'll really have something to whine about. Oh, & CNN will join them with its constant drizzle of fake news.