Conservative UC Berkeley Students Welcome DOJ Probe of Left-Wing Campus Violence

Conservative students at one of the most left-wing universities in the United States welcome a Justice Department probe after violent protests erupted at a Turning Point USA event Monday evening.

The DOJ is considering potential conspiracy and civil rights charges against those who acted violently at the TPUSA event at the University of California, Berkeley, on Monday. They are also looking into whether the university tried to protect attendees.

“They were there heckling. It was more than heckling. They were trying to intimidate everyone. They were threatening violence and saying they would inflict harm,” Martin Bertao, a UC Berkeley student and president of the College Republicans of America, told The Daily Signal. “They were calling people fascists, even families with children. And they chanted, ‘Kill all fascists.’” 

“This was bottom-of-the-barrel thug behavior,” Bertao said. 

He added, “100%, the DOJ should pursue an investigation.”

The Berkeley event marked the final stop of the TPUSA college tour, where the organization’s founder Charlie Kirk was originally scheduled to speak before his assassination in September. Instead, actor Rob Schneider and author Frank Turek addressed the crowd.

Police kept watch and arrested some of the violent actors, Bertao recalled. Still, he noted, UC Berkeley students have long shouted down conservative speakers, a pattern that preceded his time at the university. 

“It certainly happens time and time again on this campus over the years,” he said, pointing to past incidents where hecklers sought to prevent conservative speakers such as Ben Shapiro and Ann Coulter from being on the campus.  

On Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who runs the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, visited the site of the violent protest. 

“Had great meetings today in San Francisco & Berkeley with our FBI and U.S. attorney colleagues and a witness concerning the Antifa violence there Monday,” Dhillon said in an X post. 

She later followed in another post, seeking tips for information about the TPUSA event.

“Were you at or around the [TPUSA] Berkeley event Monday, November 10? The [FBI San Francisco] is seeking digital evidence to support the federal investigation!” Dhillon wrote.

The Civil Rights Division reportedly directed UC Berkeley Police Chief Yogananda Pittman and the school’s president, James Milliken, to preserve all records related to the event.

Students say agitators weren’t just Antifa, but also with the group By Any Means Necessary. 

“There is a line of ideological thinkers that celebrates the death of Charlie Kirk,” Bertao said. “Antifa, BAMN, they are cut from the same cloth: anti-white, ant-West, anti-Christian.”

The left-wing protests could be characterized as a small-scale riot, said UC Berkeley student Miguel Muniz, president of the UC Berkeley College Republicans and chairman of the California state College Republicans.

“They stole my hat and tried to instigate a full-fledged fight,” Muniz told The Daily Signal. 

“BAMN has run these protests in the past. After Trump won, they held a protest and we held a counter protest,” Muniz added. 

He said the Left is more interested in shouting than in debating ideas. 

“BAMN is certainly not talking. They’re not smart,” Muniz said. “We’ve invited them to debate. They won’t. They are afraid to talk about what they believe.”

While the protesters seemed to be looking for a fight, Muniz was not sure how well planned the protest was. 

“Everything should be investigated. I’m not sure how organized this was from what I saw,” he added.

Former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for California governor, said UC Berkeley has a significant historical legacy for free speech, and supported an investigation to help maintain that legacy from the campus free speech movement in the 1960s in opposition to the Vietnam War.

“It is important to distinguish between what the university did and what the outside agitators did,” Hilton told The Daily Signal. “Foundational principles for the University of California system are academic freedom and free speech, of all places at Berkeley, which as we all know was the birthplace of the free speech movement.”

The university police department is conducting its own investigation while cooperating with the Justice Department, UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons told The Daily Signal in a statement.

“In the weeks and months leading up to Monday’s events, the UC Berkeley administration worked closely with event organizers to plan the event,” Lyons said. “UCPD enlisted numerous law enforcement agencies to assist with the security and management of the event. As a result, an estimated 900 people were able to attend an event that proceeded without disruption. As is clear from the event video, the dialogue inside the event was civil and engaging, even among those who disagreed with each other.” 

“UC Berkeley is committed to continuing to host speakers and events representing a variety of viewpoints in a safe and respectful manner,” Lyons later added. “We will continue to evaluate our policies and practices to ensure that open dialogue and the rule of law continue to be upheld on our campus.”

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