Why Was Milo Yiannopoulos Talk At UC Berkeley Canceled? Far-Right Speaker Slams ‘Violent Left-Wing’ Protesters

UPDATE: 6:13 a.m. EST — President Donald Trump slammed University of California, Berkeley, for Wednesday’s protests over Breitbart News Editor Milo Yiannopoulos’ scheduled event at its campus. Trump tweeted Thursday accusing the university of practicing “violence on innocent people with different point of view.”

Original story:

The University of California, Berkeley, canceled a talk Wednesday by far-right speaker and Breitbart News Editor Milo Yiannopoulos after violent protests broke out at the venue. People protesting Yiannopoulos’ event threw smoke bombs, pulled down metal barricades that police had set up and set fires at the campus, according to the university.

The decision was made about two hours before the scheduled event, which was sponsored by the campus Republican club, the university said in a statement late Wednesday.

“The violence was instigated by a group of about 150 masked agitators who came onto campus and interrupted an otherwise non-violent protest. ... and [police] officers read several dispersal announcements to the crowd of more than 1,500 protesters that had gathered outside of the Martin Luther King Jr. ASUC venue. Yiannopoulos was immediately escorted away from the event and left campus,” the university said.

UC Berkeley also distanced itself from Yiannopoulos’ views and said that it values freedom of speech.

“[While] Yiannopoulos’ views, tactics and rhetoric are profoundly contrary to those of the campus, UC Berkeley is bound by the Constitution, the law, the university’s values and its Principles of Community that include the enabling of free expression across the full spectrum of opinion and perspective,” the university maintained.

Yiannopoulos has long been criticized for his racist, misogynist and anti-Muslim views. Last July, Twitter permanently banned Yiannopoulos after he called on his followers to attack “Ghostbusters” actress Leslie Jones with racist tweets.

The 33-year-old hit out at the protesters in a statement posted on his official Facebook page.

“I have been evacuated from the UC Berkeley campus after violent left-wing protestors tore down barricades, lit fires, threw rocks and Roman candles at the windows and breached the ground floor of the building. My team and I are safe. ... One thing we do know for sure: the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down,” Yiannopoulos said in the statement.

Last month, University of California, Davis, canceled an event, in which Yiannopoulos and Turing Pharmaceuticals' former CEO Martin Shkreli were expected to debate, after protesters blocked access to the venue.