Vandals continue to harass Berkeley College Republicans
The University of California, Berkeley College Republicans continue to experience hostility from classmates, this time catching a student vandalizing a sign right in front of several CR members after engaging them in a political discussion.
In a video posted to Facebook, a student is seen snapping a board in half before being confronted by the cameraman, who asks, “You do realize you just destroyed private property?”
The vandal returns to the sign, which says “Berkeley College Republicans,” continuing to break it apart before stuffing the pieces into a nearby trash can.
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“Do you know if this is compost or trash?” the vandal asks the cameraman while carrying a piece of the broken sign.
“I believe it would be compost,” the cameraman responds, keeping his cool.
At another point in the video, a different student tells the cameraman to stop recording the crime.
“Hey, do you want to, like, put your phone down?”
“This is public property and I have every right to film this and he is destroying our private property,” the CR member counters. “I have the complete right to film someone on public property.”
“No you don’t,” the student responds.
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CR President Troy Worden told Campus Reform that the group had provided campus police with a copy of the video, as well as information about the suspected identity of the perpetrator, but noted that this is hardly the only instance of violence and vandalism directed at CR members.
“The Berkeley College Republicans have experienced a recent surge in political terrorism—weeks after Milo Yiannopoulos' visit to UC Berkeley prompted riots on and off campus,” Worden explained. “On February 28, 2017, one of our club's signs was destroyed by a student after engaging in political discussion with myself. While destroying the sign, one of his compatriots claimed ‘destruction of property is not violence.’ He was filmed; we believe we have identified him and have passed that information on to campus police.”
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Worden acknowledged that the administration “finally” released a statement condemning political violence in response to the incident, but pointed out that the condemnation did not come until six months after the first time that the CRs had their property destroyed on campus.
Moreover, he claimed that the very next day, “another one of our signs was vandalized by two individuals, one of whom was identified and has been charged with a misdemeanor.”
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Around the same time, he added, “posters with pictures of myself and other members of our club were put about around campus, labeling us ‘fascists’ and falsely accusing us of violence and Neo-Nazi ties.”
Nonetheless, Worden vowed that the Berkeley CRs “will continue to defend free speech” on campus, declaring that “we will not be intimidated” and will “work with university police and the administration to bring these thugs to justice.”
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