Berkeley Police Plan “Unprecedented Security” For Ben Shapiro Event

Berkeley, California was the purported birthplace of the American ‘Free Speech’ movement during the 1960s. But in 2017, it has become singularly associated with liberal oppression. A place where conservative speakers and demonstrators have been confronted with violence and threats, and where the active repression of the doctrinaire has been aided by city and university officials’ troubling willingness to appease and accommodate the left.
But in a surprising and encouraging development, the University of California at Berkeley has revealed that it is ramping up security tonight ahead of a lecture by the Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro. The Associated Press reports that campus authorities plan to seal off the campus’ central hub, Sproul Plaza and enforce a “closed perimeter” around several buildings, including Zellerbach Hall, where Shapiro is scheduled to speak to a sold-out, 1,000-person audience.
Berkeley officers have been authorized to use pepper spray to control violence for the first time in two decades after the city council modified a 1997 ban at an emergency meeting this week, the AP reported. To be sure, Shapiro appeared on campus last year without incident. But that, of course, was before President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, leading to a country-wide wave of political violence. Until recently, University officials had discouraged conservatives like Anne Coulter from speaking – prompting the cancellation of several events for security reasons – after Antifa protesters violently disrupted an appearance by conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos in February, causing $100,000 in damage. Police and UC Berkeley officials were criticized for their reluctance to intervene, giving demonstrators wide latitude to destroy the university’s campus.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Sep 14, 2017.