After Milo Yiannopoulos was forced to cancel his appearance at U.C. Berkeley due to the violent protests staged by leftist radicals, the conservative journalist and Breitbart News editor addressed the appalling breakdown of freedom of speech in the country.
Through a video posted on YouTube, Yiannopoulos discussed how liberals and leftists took a dramatic turn following President Donald Trump’s inauguration. These groups, which championed the importance of their freedom of expression in publicizing their opinions, were the same ones that ravaged the university just to prevent Yiannopoulos, a Trump supporter, from sharing his political and social views.
“It turns out that the progressive left, the social justice left, the feminist, Black Lives Matter, antifa left, the hard left, which has become so utterly antithetical to free speech in the last few years, is taking a turn post-Trump’s election where they simply will not allow any speaker on campus, even somebody as silly and harmless and gay as me, to have their voice heard,” Yiannopoulos said.
The conservative reporter was supposed to deliver a speech to the students of UC Berkeley at the campus’ Sproul Hall on Wednesday night. However, moments before the event, a massive group composed of about 1,500 individuals converged at the venue to protest against Yiannopoulos.
The demonstration, which labeled Yiannopoulos’ views as hate speech, then escalated into a full riot as protesters started to throw smoke bombs, fireworks and rocks. They also took down barriers, set fires and started fights. In response, police officers enforced a lockdown on the campus and used tear gas and non-lethal weapons to disperse the protesters.
Following the incident,Yiannopoulos noted that the UC Berkeley alumni wrote to him to inform him that they were horrified by how the students and protesters treated him and the university. He also said that the riot that occurred inside the campus also has cultural implications as it could make people re-evaluate their views on the U.S.’ education system.
