There has been much criticism surrounding the decision by campus police at the University of California, Berkeley not to intervene in the violent protests that successfully shut down a scheduled speech by right-wing gay provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. While
eyewitnesses contend that the lack of police intervention allowed the protests to escalate, police are defending the decision to allow the protests to progress, stating that they believed officer intervention would only have served to inflame tensions.
As protesters broke windows, assaulted Trump and Yiannopoulos supporters, set a large fire outside of the building where Yiannopoulos was supposed to speak, and even hurled rocks at police officers, the campus police decided to employ a hands-off approach, though there were only about 150 protesters.
Approximately $100,000 worth of damage was done, but only one person was arrested.
One eyewitness, UFC veteran and professional MMA fighter Jake Shields, told Breitbart News that he was present at the event and was compelled to
rescue a man who was being attacked by the protesters after police allegedly refused to intervene. "Like fifteen people were trying to attack him and others were cheering them on," explained Shields. "No one helped, no one had the balls to step in, so my reaction was to run in and start picking people off."
"More chaos started happening, so I went up to the police and tried bringing them back, but they were just like 'we're not really going over there. You should just stay away.'" He continued, "I don't know if they were taking orders from someone or if they were just being lazy. I don't know what the situation was, but it was pathetic to watch. Our police, who are supposed to defend the citizens of Berkeley. It's a sad scene that they would allow that."
Comment: The astonishing rise in murder rates speaks to the rapid disintegration of US society - and things aren't looking to get better.
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