California teacher charged in beatings

SAN FRANCISCO — A former San Francisco Bay Area college philosophy teacher and “anti-fascist” activist was charged Friday with hitting people during violent clashes between supporters and detractors of President Donald Trump last month, police said.

Berkeley police officers arrested Eric Clanton, 28, Wednesday at his house in Oakland, Calif.

Police seized “flags, patches, pamphlets” and labels associated with “anti-fascist and anarchist political groups,” according to the complaint filed by prosecutors charging Clanton with four felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and a misdemeanor charge of wearing a mask while committing a crime.

Clanton has tattoo on the inside of his left bicep associated with the anti-fascist “Iron Front” movement, police said.

Police arrested 20 people during the April 15 protests in downtown Berkeley.

Videos of a masked man wearing a dark hoodie hitting a pro-Trump protester in the head circulated widely on social media and led to Clanton’s arrest, Berkeley Police Lt. Dan Montgomery said.

Clanton’s attorney, Dan Siegel, did not return a telephone message left Friday seeking comment. Clanton taught philosophy part time at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill for three semesters, his last in the fall of 2016.