While he’s always sure to attract controversy wherever he goes, you have to give Milo Yiannopoulos credit for one thing. He doesn’t just go to speak at comfortable, conservative enclaves where he’s preaching to the choir. His latest outing was at one of the original homes of free speech in our nation, the University of California, Berkeley. While known as a liberal bastion, I’m sure the students there were willing to at least give him a listen and offer their own countering positions in response.

So, Milo… how did the speech go? Here’s a quick snapshot for his scrapbook which you can click on for the full size version. (CBS local coverage)

As you might guess from that single image, the event wound up being cancelled. Milo and his team are safe, but the entire area was pretty much shut down. The local CBS news outlet has this video report which is worth a look, since these pictures paint far more than any thousand words I could type.

Protesters armed with bricks and fireworks mounted an assault on the building hosting a speech by polarizing Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos Wednesday night, forcing the event’s cancellation.

Several injuries have been reported and at least four banks have been vandalized after demonstrators marched away from the scene of a violent protest at the canceled speaking event by controversial far-right writer and speaker Yiannopoulos on the University of California at
Berkeley campus.

UC Berkeley officials said the protest was infiltrated by vandals.

Here we go again with the “infiltrated by vandals” line. How many times have we heard this one before? Oh, the peaceful protesters just wanted to have their voices heard but these nasty outsiders came along and ruined things. Really? Go take a look at the CBS video again. That looks like some awfully coordinated, well prepared violence, arson and looting. And I don’t see any of the marchers doing a thing to eject or even criticize the masked criminals engaging in all the carnage.

And what did they get away with?

By 8 p.m., a large crowd of people had moved off the campus and onto Telegraph Avenue. They smashed ATMs at a Bank of America branch and set several trash fires on Telegraph Avenue.

After marching west on Durant Avenue, the group moved north on Shattuck Avenue, smashing windows and vandalizing a Mechanics Bank branch near the corner of Bancroft Way.

Chase and Wells Fargo branches were also vandalized. A Starbucks location near campus was vandalized and looted.

Police also received reports that banks were set on fire in the area of Center Street and Shattuck Avenue.

Multiple banks robbed and burned. Starbucks looted. That should really teach Milo a thing or two. So what sort of “speech” did that represent? Is this some sort of performance art I’m too tragically un-hip to know about?

But all of the violence doesn’t cover up the sins of the rest of the crowd, even if some of them were not engaged in liberating cash and other private property. This wasn’t a protest designed to get out an opposing view or sway the public. This was not free speech. Just take a look at the public notices displayed around the area.

Shut. Him. Down.

Don’t let him speak. He has “no right” to speak here or anywhere. This was going on long before Trump took office, so that’s not the excuse. It’s just the modern Left in action. If they can’t win at the ballot box, the next step is to burn the place down and attempt to intimidate everyone until they get their way. Welcome to the modern era of civil discourse.