BERKELEY, Calif. — Berkeley, known as the home of the free speech movement, was under heavy police watch on Thursday as hundreds of people waving American flags and chanting USA gathered in a park to protest a canceled appearance by conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
University police erected barricades and refused to let any protesters enter the campus. Four people were arrested — one for obstructing an officer and wearing a mask to evade police, and another for possessing a knife.
Coulter previously said she was forced to cancel a speaking event at the University of California, Berkeley, although she added that she might still “swing by to say hello” to her supporters, prompting police and university officials to brace for possible trouble. She was not spotted at the rallies.
Several hundred people gathered for an afternoon rally supporting Coulter at Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park in downtown Berkeley.
“It’s a shame that someone can’t speak in the home of the free speech movement,” said Wilson Grafstrom, an 18-year-old high school student from Menlo Park.
He wore a military grade helmet with a “Make America Great Again” sticker across the back, goggles, gas mask and knee pads. He blamed Coulter opponents for forcing him to gear up for problems.
Many at the park rally about a mile from the university’s main Sproul Plaza also wore military grade helmets and body armor. Some had “Build That Wall” or Trump stickers across their headgear. One man had duct tape reading “Berkeley” over his mouth.
The tension illustrates how Berkeley has emerged as a flashpoint for extreme left and right forces amid the debate over free speech in a place where the 1960s U.S. free speech movement began before it spread to college campuses across the nation.
Berkeley student Joseph Pagadara, 19, said he was worried about violence and says the university is caught in the middle of the country’s political divide.
“Both sides are so intolerant of each other. We are a divided country. We need to listen to each other but we’re each caught in our own bubbles,” he said.
As for Coulter, Pagadara said the university should have let her speak. “Now she’s making herself look like the victim and Berkeley like the bad guys,” he said.
Earlier in the day, dozens of police wearing flak jackets and carrying 40 mm launchers that shoot “foam batons” flanked Sproul Plaza while a small group of protesters condemning Coulter staged a small rally outside campus.
Officers took selfies with students in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Protesters from the International Socialist Organization held what they called an “Alt Right Delete” rally with signs reading “Refuse Fascism” and “Fascist free campus.” The group endorses free speech, and some members oppose the way Coulter and others have co-opted the free speech movement.
“I don’t like Ann Coulter’s views, but I don’t think in this case the right move was to shut her down,” said graduate student Yevgeniy Melguy, 24, who held a sign that read “Immigrants Are Welcome Here.”