Violent protesters block Berkeley talk by Breitbart editor
A crowd protesting a right-wing commentator's appearance at the University of California at Berkeley hurled smoke bombs, broke windows and sparked a massive bonfire, prompting officials to call off the event.
The university said the decision was made two hours before Wednesday's talk by Milo Yiannopoulos (yuh-NAH'-poh-lihs), an editor of Breitbart News, after some 1,500 people had gathered outside the venue.
But officials said it was a smaller group of protesters dressed in black and in hooded sweatshirts that showed up as night fell to break windows with metal barricades, throw smoke bombs and flares and start a large bonfire outside the building with a diesel generator. "This was a group of agitators who were masked up, throwing rocks, commercial grade fireworks and Molotov cocktails at officers," said UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennet.
Bennet said police determined at that point they couldn't guarantee security, canceled the event and evacuated Yiannopoulos from the building. There were no immediate reports of arrests or serious injuries, she said.
