The Chancellor of UC Berkeley has responded to Donald Trump’s threat to cut the university’s funding following the left-wing riot that took place last week, describing it as “ill informed,” adding that Breitbart News and television networks have prevented the “real news” from getting out.
The riot, which formed part of a protest against the final event of MILO’s ‘Dangerous Faggot Tour,’ saw rioters smash ATMs and bank windows, loot local stores, assault and pepper spray Trump supporters,, set fires in the street, as well as spraying words “Kill Trump” on storefronts. The total estimated cost of the damage is over half a million dollars.
President Donald Trump condemned the riot, threatening to take away the university federal funds “if UC Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view.”
If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
The university receives $350 million in federal funds every year. Talking to KQED radio, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said that the president’s remarks “seem to have been ill informed,” accusing Breitbart and television networks of distorting the truth.
“It’s fairly well established that some of the tweets that come out of the White House these days are based on things seen on certain kinds of news sources — whether television or perhaps even Breitbart — and I don’t think the real news got out,” he said.
Dirks has consistently denied student involvement in the riots, instead claiming that they initiated by “armed individuals in ‘ninja-like’ uniforms, using paramilitary tactics.”
One group has so far taken responsibility for the riot, the far-left BAMN (By Any Means Necessary,) with the group’s leader Yvette Felarca telling KTVU she has “no regrets” over the riot, adding that “the left has been far too timid for way too long.”
In the interview, Dirks also contended that the university’s reputation for free speech has not been tarnished by the event, saying that he has “been hearing from people across the country that we have indeed honored out tradition and have been exemplary in terms of our commitment to freedom of speech.”
Since the riot, MILO has confirmed he is “planning to return to Berkeley to give the speech I was prevented from delivering, hopefully within the next few months.”
You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com
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