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A few hundred feet apart, yet worlds away politically, furious students at UC Berkeley protested the final stop of the conservative organization Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback Tour,” hosted Monday night on what is known as the nation’s most liberal campus.

The event drew many older attendees who at various moments danced to “YMCA,” laughed, and held moments of silence for the late TPUSA leader Charlie Kirk.

Outside the event, students, most of them far younger than the attendees inside, faced off with police in riot gear, with physical fights prompting arrests. One man was taken to a hospital after being struck in the head.

On Tuesday morning, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division would investigate the event. Attorney General Pam Bondi also tweeted that the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force would be launching a full investigation of what she called “violent riots at UC Berkeley.”

In a statement, UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof said the university is conducting a “full investigation” and “intends to fully cooperate” with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force to identify “the outside agitators responsible for attempting to disrupt last night’s TPUSA event.”

During the event, a large police presence held back protesters several hundred feet away and held up batons and projectile weapons. The UC Police Department, private security, and law enforcement from Alameda County and San Francisco were staged at Lower Sproul, a plaza in front of Zellerbach. The event was strictly monitored, with bags, food, beverages, signs and flags prohibited.

Law enforcement had already begun in the early morning, with the UC Police Department arresting four students at midnight for felony vandalism for trying to attach a giant cardboard bug to Sather Gate at the campus entrance as a protest against the TPUSA event, as reported by the Daily Californian.

The event occurred exactly two months to the day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the founder of TPUSA, who was shot on a Utah university campus while he debated students about his political viewpoints.

Two student reporters for CalMatters were at the event. Here’s what they saw both outside and in.

Outside, 4:30 pm

Protests were just beginning in Sproul Plaza, a central area on campus, while Lower Sproul Plaza, the area in front of Zellerbach Hall, was entirely barricaded by law enforcement. Surrounding campus buildings had closed as early at 12:45 p.m., causing student group meetings to be cancelled or moved to Zoom.

Unable to walk straight to Zellerbach Hall, the hundreds of protesters moved down Bancroft Way toward the campus’s Student Union, where event attendees lined up to enter the barricaded space in front of Zellerbach. A fight broke out between two men, one of whom was selling “Freedom” shirts. Their altercation and subsequent arrest briefly shut down the street.

Inside, 5:30 pm

Inside the event, attendees, most of whom were not students, filed in wearing red MAGA hats and “Freedom” shirts. As they took their seats, they danced to “Born in the USA,” “YMCA” and “Here Comes the Sun.”

Outside, 5:30 pm 

A panic briefly ran through the crowd when a car on Bancroft Way began to backfire, mimicking the sound of gunshots, causing some attendees to duck and run as smoke filled the air. No one was injured, and the majority of protesters continued to chant and bang on the barricades in front of almost 20 UCPD officers holding up their batons.

Inside, 6:30 pm

Jobob Taeleifi, a comedian and friend of Kirk’s, kicked off the event, followed by John Paul Leon, UC Berkeley’s Turning Point USA chapter president, who announced the entrance of Christian apologist and Kirk mentor Frank Turek.

“When a bullet soared through the air, an assassin took the life of a courageous man,” Leon told the crowd. “The sad truth is, the left are not your friends. They will mock and dehumanize you just so they can laugh at your corpse … To all those protesters outside, I have one thing to say: It is clear to us which side is winning when your side becomes the violent agitators.”

Taeleifi, Leon and Turek all focused much of their speeches on criticizing the protests outside. Turek called Kirk a “martyr” and recounted his experience watching Kirk die.

“I’m never going to forget Charlie’s lifeless eyes looking back right past me,” Turek said.

Comedian Rob Schneider, who spoke after Turek, thanked “antifa” for their “welcome.” Schneider spoke about his experience at the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary event, did impressions of God and said, “God said Trump’s my guy.”

“There is an attack on Western civilization and the United States is the last bastion of hope,” Schneider said. “As Charlie Kirk said, if you do not assimilate, it is an invasion, and that is what we’re experiencing.”

Outside, 6:30 pm

Two people who were arguing began to fight. One was detained by the police.

The protest mostly congregated around one barricaded entrance to the event. Some were there in response to calls put out by UC Berkeley student activist groups like Students Organizing for Liberation, Young Democratic Socialists of America and Jewish Voice for Peace. In addition to the large number of students, protesters also included people who did not attend UC Berkeley – groups like SF Bay Activists held a “dance party” protest.

Away from the epicenter of the shouts and chants in front of police, many hung back just to watch and observe.

One student protester, Asha Genett, said she attended because she disagreed with Turning Point’s support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, which she called “human rights abuses.”

“I think that conversation between conservatives and liberals or leftists is important,” Genett said. “I don’t think the way that TPUSA strives to engage in that is productive or helpful. I think it’s inflammatory.”

Chants varied between condemnations of TPUSA’s conservative ideals, to calls for them to leave campus. Protesters shouted, “Fascists out of Berkeley,” “Trump must go now,” and “F— Charlie Kirk.”

Protester Court Freund, a UC Berkeley master’s student who identifies as a Democrat and libertarian, said he disagreed with TPUSA on everything but free speech.

“My perspective is that TPUSA and other organizations I strongly disagree with, as long as they’re not espousing direct harm to someone on campus, they should be here and have a right to be here,” he said.

“By closing them out from our campus, which is supposed to be a hub for intellectual debate, so many progressives just want to shut out the other side,” Freund said. “By doing that, they automatically lose a large percentage of people.”

According to Mogulof, a 45-year-old male attendee of the TPUSA event was struck in the head with a glass bottle, and was transported to a nearby hospital for a laceration to his head.

Inside, 8:10 pm

A line of attendees filled the entirety of the aisle waiting for their chance to ask a question as Schneider hosted a Q&A with Turek, author Andrew Doyle, and philosopher Peter Boghossian to conclude the event.

Jackie Jones, a student and comedy club co-president, asked Schneider if there are things comedians shouldn’t joke about, to which Schneider replied that it is a comedian’s job to “challenge” people and push boundaries. He also praised Louis C.K., who admitted to sexual misconduct allegations in 2017, calling him a “genius.”

Outside, 8:45 pm

Protesters circled Lower Sproul to block exits, facing off with police behind barricades as attendees left the event. Surrounded by protesters, attendees gradually exited, some yelling back and engaging in arguments. The protest wrapped up a little after 9:30 p.m. By the end of the protest, four people had been arrested, according to Mogulof.

“These people can’t be negotiated with,” said student and event attendee Matthew Edgar of the protesters outside. “They would celebrate if I died. It’s nonsensical. I’m going to walk out of here, and I’ll probably have virtually no friends coming out of Berkeley.”

About the Reporters

Ella Carter-Klauschie and Chrissa Olson are contributors with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.