Protests at a Turning Point USA event at UC Berkeley on Monday led to arrests and a Department of Justice investigation, with officials alleging antifa involvement and a warning to other universities to do more to quell campus violence.
At least three people were arrested during the protests by city and university police, with fights breaking out and demonstrators chanting “No Trump, No KKK, no fascist USA” and “F**k your dead homie,” referencing Kirk, according to the local outlet Berkeleyside.
The DOJ was already investigating the UC system over various allegations, and the Trump administration has demanded UCLA pay $1.2 billion and make other concessions.
“Antifa is an existential threat to our nation,” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X Tuesday. “The violent riots at UC Berkeley last night are under full investigation by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, and pursuant to his Executive Order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, the Department of Justice and our law-enforcement partners are dismantling violent networks that seek to intimidate Americans and suppress their free expression and First Amendment rights,” Bondi added.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general supervising the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, also said her division will investigate. “Violent thugs assaulting citizens and students attending events and intimidating speakers away from campus is wrong and deeply alarming,” she wrote on X.
“We have a lot of threads to follow up. This is a top priority — this incident that occurred here — for the Department of Justice and for the Trump administration,” Dhillon said. She added that she had already spoken with President Donald Trump about what occurred at Berkeley and that the administration is concerned about persistent violence on the campus and in the city over the years.
“The First Amendment applies at UC Berkeley, and the United States will not stand idly by while those rights are violated,” Dhillon continued.
Comedian Rob Schneider, who was a speaker at the event, plans to sue the school over its handling of the protests.
The violent protests at the Turning Point USA event in Berkeley came exactly one month after founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10. Police have identified 22-year-old Tyler Robinson in the slaying, and prosecutors have filed a capital murder charge and will seek the death penalty.
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