Mayor wants University of California, Berkeley to cancel Free Speech Week after recent melees

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The mayor of the city known for being the epicenter of the free speech movement is now urging a university to cancel plans by a conservative group for a Free Speech Week in September -- the request coming after recent violent clashes in the city.

Mayor Jesse Arreguin told the San Francisco Chronicle Monday he didn't want the University of California, Berkeley "being used as a punching bag" in the wake of Antifa members' attack on conservative demonstrators.

“I am concerned about these groups using large protests to create mayhem," Arreguin told the newspaper.

A conservative campus group, called the Berkeley Patriot, is set to host controversial author Milo Yiannopoulos during its scheduled Free Speech Week from Sept. 24-27. The last time Yiannopoulos came to the university, his event was canceled because of violence on campus, which included the throwing of Molotov cocktails.

 

 

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"If the law is broken in the course of the event we will react immediately and appropriately, but we can't, based on a generalized concern, shut down speech before it occurs," UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof told KTVU. "The law and the Supreme Court have been absolutely clear on that front."

In addition to the appearance by Yiannopoulos, Berkeley Patriot is trying to convince Breitbart editor and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and conservative commentator Ann Coulter to appear during its Free Speech Week. Coulter cancelled an event planned on the campus in April amid threats of violence.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/30/mayor-wants-university-california-berkeley-to-cancel-free-speech-week-after-recent-melees.html

 

tfw the "freedom of speech" city and campus needs a "free speech week" to cancel.