Hundreds held a relatively peaceful demonstration in response to Ann Coulter's speech cancellation at University of California Berkeley. Coulter had said she was forced to cancel a speaking engagement at the school.
Anthropology major Christina Katkic, 21, anxious that the university was getting increasingly stuck in the middle of the country's political divide.
Police and university officials have said they were bracing for trouble whether or not she decides to show. On Wednesday, Coulter announced the speech was canceled.
"Having a large police presence definitely helped yesterday", Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin told San Francisco TV station KTVU on Friday. At least 6 people were arrested - one for obstructing an officer and wearing a mask to evade police, and another for possessing a knife, Berkeley police Officer Byron White told the Associated Press.
Many were geared up - with helmets, shields and padding - for a confrontation at a public park, just blocks from the campus. But Berkeley's leftism pushed her to the center.
The tension illustrated 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 US free speech movement began before it spread to college campuses across the nation. Significant violence never ultimately erupted, and some attendees expressed regret that Coulter never appeared.
There's no Ann Coulter speech planned.
"They may be able to stop us from speaking on the campus, they may be able to throw punches, to spray pepper spray, throw bricks at us, but they can't stop an idea", Ms. "It's unacceptable", McInnes said as he left the gathering surrounded by private security.
"Mass mobilization, organization, and commitment to the politics of solidarity can actually confront the far right threat and defend our rights to free speech and assembly". "Speech cannot be financially burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because it might offend a hostile mob".
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The group on its Facebook page calls itself a fraternal organization aimed at "reinstating a spirit of Western chauvinism during an age of globalism and multiculturalism".
A line of a few dozen riot police quickly moved into the middle of the street to form a human barrier between the opposing groups, as the two sides shouted at each other.
"This issue is not free speech". The crowd included members of the alt-right, Trump supporters, and people on the political left who showed up to protest against the commentator and her supporters. Later today, there's a pro-Coulter and pro-Trump group called the Proud Boys who will stage an event at a nearby park.
In February, protesters opposed to an appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos, then a senior editor for the conservative Breitbart news website, set fires, broke windows and clashed with police on campus, prompting cancellation of his speech.
Police in Berkeley are mobilizing on motorbikes, in armored trucks and on foot for possible violence at rallies and protests over Ann Coulter's canceled appearance at the California city's university.
Thursday's tensions were another example of 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 US free speech movement began before spreading to college campuses across the nation. He said Berkeley police had reached out to local and state police forces "to let them know we might be calling for assistance".
Hundreds of far-right protesters, some dressed in goggles, gas masks and knee pads, are rallying in support of conservative speaker Ann Coulter in downtown Berkeley.
We can alleviate polarization if we come to the table to talk, but until such point there is no constructive way forward.
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