Coulter’s Berkeley speech canceled, police prep for violence

Coulter had initially planned to speak at Berkeley on Thursday, but that appearance was cancelled by the university over what officials called “security concerns”.

“A signal needed to be sent across the country to every university and college where these left-wing militias exist”, Levin said.

They cited “very specific intelligence” of threats that could endanger Coulter and students, as Berkeley becomes a platform for extremist protesters on both sides of the political spectrum.

Ann Coulter speaks onstage at The Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe at Sony Studios on August 27, 2016 in Los Angeles.

Coulter said she might still visit Berkeley, long a bastion of liberal student activism, on Thursday as originally scheduled, but would not deliver an address in which she was expected to present a conservative critique of pro-immigration policies. The lawyer said the school told her it wouldn’t provide a room for the event. Following Coulter backing down, the ACLU criticized the “heckler’s vote” at Berkeley, stating that we must protect free speech. He said the school remains committed to working with Berkeley College Republicans and other student organizations to bring speakers of all political backgrounds to campus.

“It’s a sad day for free speech”, she told the Times. “So I think going forward we are going to need to have a more visible police presence at these incidents and intervene”.

She said the university had proposed several rule changes, and she had “called their bluff” by agreeing to the conditions.

A student group, the Young America’s Foundation, said Tuesday it had decided not to host the event, saying the university had created a hostile environment.

Berkeley has been sharp in its response, saying it tried to work with Ms. Coulter and that it supported her right to speak in a safe venue, but that they needed more time to find the appropriate space.

National Review columnist David French opined “the university is in full retreat, with the mob forcing the speech it doesn’t like into smaller venues, at times when far fewer people can hear it”.

The real concern, according to Berkeley chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks is student safety. Center Park. Fights broke out between Trump supporters and opponents; by the end of the night, a cop was stabbed, 23 people were arrested, and police found weapons including bear spray, knives, a replica gun, an axe handle and a concrete-filled can, the Mercury News reported. “One”, said Pirro, arguing there was a “stand-down” as police let protesters cause $100,000 in damage.

Earlier, police mobilized on motorbikes, in armored trucks and on foot for possible violence at the rallies over Coulter’s canceled appearance at the University of California campus in the city.

It denigrates students at the crown jewel of public higher education to say they can’t separate fact from polemics or they can’t handle “engagement” with someone who “ruffles some feathers”, he said.

He added that authorities plan to have a “very, very low tolerance for any violence” on Thursday.

For their part in the Coulter event, university officials disputed that they had cancelled her event.

The group Oath Keepers, with supporters of Coulter, is planning to hold a rally at Martin Luther King Jr.

Event organizers say they aren’t anxious. He said, “The school is doing everything they can as an administration”. Coulter refused. “All of these things come together to show how cocooned and out of touch American universities are today”, she remarked.