Conservative’s talk at Cal an ‘orderly event’
Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro delivered his speech at the UC Berkeley campus under extraordinary security that required attendees to pass through metal detectors and police barricades that held back hundreds of protesters.
The event at Zellerbach Hall appeared to do what UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ has said she hoped for when she declared a free speech year on campus: provide an open ex-
change of ideas. Shapiro’s speech included a questionand-answer session in which audience members respectfully challenged his opinions.
Security cost the university an estimated $600,000. Police from all nine Bay Area counties were brought in to keep order on and off campus and to secure Zellerbach and the surrounding area, which was off-limits to anyone without a ticket to the event.
The large contingent of law enforcement was a deterrent, said Margo Bennett of the UC Berkeley police.
“For the most part it was an orderly event, attended by respectful, orderly people,” she said. “The crowd in the street was loud, but not violent.”
The evening stood in stark contrast to the Feb. 1 fiery chaos that shut down an appearance by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and resulted in $100,000 worth of damage to the school’s student union and smashed windows at downtown businesses. At that event, black-clad protesters infiltrated police barriers. None of those so-called antifa protesters showed up for Shapiro.
Still, UC Berkeley officials said they went to “unprecedented lengths” and used extraordinary measures to prevent a similar result.
“There was a general sense of relief that it was peaceful,” said UC spokesman Dan Mogulof, adding Sproul Plaza would remain on lockdown through the evening. Even after the event ended, hundreds of protesters remained on the streets chanting for “fascists” to go home.
Shapiro took the stage at Zellerbach with several hundred in the audience and some empty seats for an event that was described as sold out. The audience included people who said they agreed with him and some who challenged his views on abortion, sexism and other hot-button issues.
“In a free country, if you fail, it is probably your own fault,” he said to chuckles and a smattering of applause.
Alla Kushnir, 30, traveled from Sacramento with five friends to hear Shapiro.
“I thought it was great,” she said. “I love this guy.”
Michael Vancea, 18, and a student at Ohlone College also thought the event was entertaining.
“There were people of all backgrounds, with people disagreeing,” he said. “I really liked that.”
Shapiro’s speaking engagement, sponsored by the Young America’s Foundation, was seen as a test case for UC and Berkeley police, given the possibility of even more controversial speakers appearing on campus in two weeks, including Yiannopoulos, conservative author Ann Coulter and Steve Bannon, President Trump’s former adviser.
While no official appearances are scheduled, Bennett said the university will nonetheless prepare for the possibility.
“Now we’ll look for lessons learned and gather to plan,” she said. “This is where our work on that begins.”
Shapiro noted how times had changed — and that only 18 months ago he had spoken at UC Berkeley and that there had been only two security guards.
He noted the significant security and thanked Berkeley, saying the city did something amazing.
“Berkeley has actually achieved building a wall before Donald Trump did,” he said.
Shapiro’s speech focused on criticism of the antifa, or socalled antifascist movement, saying, “America is watching because you guys are so stupid,” he said. “You can all go to hell you pathetic, lying, stupid, jackasses.”
Hundreds of protesters participating in a Refuse Fascism rally, were kept off campus just outside the south gate, where there were at least nine arrests, including Hannah Benjamin, 20, of Fremont, was arrested for battery on a police officer and carrying a banned weapon, and Sarah Roark, 44, of San Francisco, as well as Michael Paul Sullivan, 29, of Hayward, were also arrested for carrying a banned weapon, police said.
At times the rally erupted in a few shouting matches, but no major violence.
Xochitl Johnson, 42, of Oakland, one of the Refuse Fascism organizers, said Shapiro and other speakers make students rethink their beliefs — and “tamp down” their activism.
“People come out of his speeches and they think he made sense,” Johnson said. “They’re wrapping themselves in the veil of free speech to bludgeon these young people on these campuses with white supremacy, xenophobia, racism and hatred.”
Shapiro, 33, a lightning rod for the left, is a supporter of President Trump and uses his Web-based “Ben Shapiro Show” and other online columns to support the president’s policies, criticize the “self-righteous media” and to wade into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict firmly on the side of Israel.
While there were 1,000 tickets issued to the free event, not all the seats were filled and Shapiro lamented that the university cut off the number and blocked off the balcony over concerns that agitators would throw things from above.
Ray Sullivan, a freshman, had looked forward to the appearance and was among those who got a ticket.
“I personally agree with a lot of what Ben Shapiro has to say,” he said. “I was very concerned about personal safety — thinking of the Ann Coulter thing — but once I got here I felt a lot more comfortable after I saw the police.”