Yvonne Felarca arrested at Berkeley rally

Yvonne Felarca, an organizer with the militant group By Any Means Necessary, was arrested Tuesday after she and members of her group confronted members of Patriot Prayer. Berkeley police posted Felarca’s mugshot on Twitter Tuesday afternoon:

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The arrest happened as Joey Gibson’s Patriot Prayer group marched through town and spoke during what was originally scheduled to be “Free Speech Week.” After that event was canceled over the weekend, Berkeleyside reports Gibson announced plans for a rally during a live stream Monday:

Gibson said in his live-stream Monday that he and others need to put pressure on Berkeley to push back against groups such as By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) and antifa, and “stand up for free speech.”

“You can elect all the communists that you want but you have to respect the constitution,” he said. “We will destroy your narrative by coming in, talking about freedom, talking about love and peace. These are things 99% of Americans agree with and you cannot stop us.… Your lies, your deception, your darkness will be uncovered. It is being uncovered right now as we speak.”

CBS News reports Gibson’s group and counter-protesters got into shouting matches inside an “empathy tent.” Around 2:30 Felarca was pulled out of the crowd and arrested:

Police later told Berkleyside Felarca was being held on $20,000 bail and suspicion of three misdemeanors “rioting, obstruction and battery.” The middle school where Felarca works said it was “monitoring developments in this case.”

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In July, Felarca was arrested for felony assault and inciting a riot for her involvement in a violent riot that took place in Sacramento last year. Felarca helped organize a group of 300 anti-fascists who confronted about 30 white nationalists in June 2016. A total of 14 people were injured, including cuts and stab wounds that sent people to local hospitals. The anti-fascists also attacked a local news crew, apparently concerned their faces were being filmed.

The California Highway Patrol did an exhaustive 8-month investigation of the Sacramento riot and identified over 500 misdemeanors and 68 felonies in video shot that day. Ultimately, because many of the counter-protesters were masked and refused to cooperate with the investigation, police arrested just four people, one member of the white nationalist group and three members of the anti-fascist group including Felarca. Here’s video of Felarca throwing punches last year:

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