Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, condemned the violent clash between Antifa agitators and attendees at a Turning Point USA event in California on Monday night, warning that the unrest mirrors the notorious campus riots that rocked the University of California, Berkeley, in 2017.
In a Tuesday morning post on X, Dhillon said that her office will conduct a formal investigation into the violence.
"We saw all of this at Berkeley back in 2017," Dhillon wrote Tuesday. "@UCBerkeley was sued, and settled the case. The @CivilRights will investigate what happened here, and I see several issues of serious concern regarding campus and local security and Antifa's ability to operate with impunity in CA."
Later in the day, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a statement on social media saying the riots were under full investigation by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force. "We will continue to spare no expense unmasking all who commit and orchestrate acts of political violence," she wrote on X. "Under President Trump’s leadership, and pursuant to his Executive Order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, the Department of Justice and our law-enforcement partners are dismantling violent networks that seek to intimidate Americans and suppress their free expression and First Amendment rights."
The incident reportedly erupted outside a Turning Point USA student chapter event featuring conservative speakers when Antifa activists clad in black clashed with attendees and police. Videos shared on social media show chaotic scenes of shouting, shoving, and pepper spray as demonstrators attempted to block entry to the venue.
Dhillon's reference to the 2017 Berkeley riots recalls when Antifa protesters violently shut down an event featuring then-Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. That unrest caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and led to a lawsuit against the university that ultimately resulted in a settlement.
In her social media post, Dhillon suggested that California authorities have failed to learn from the Berkeley episode and are allowing Antifa groups to continue their activities with little accountability.
Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that promotes conservative values on college campuses, has faced frequent protests from left-wing groups in California and across the country. The organization's co-founder, the late Charlie Kirk, frequently criticized universities for failing to protect students' rights to host conservative events.
In Monday's incident, local police were called to disperse demonstrators after tensions escalated ahead of the Turning Point event at Zellerbach Hall.
Protesters, clad in black masks and keffiyehs, chanted "No Trump, No KKK, No fascist USA" and screamed obscenities at event attendees, calling them "fascists."
Headlined by comedian Rob Schneider and Christian author Frank Turek, the event was held exactly two months after Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, according to Berkeleyside.
The verbal clash descended into violence when a protester wearing a mask tackled a man selling Kirk memorial "Freedom" shirts, leading to several punches being thrown before Berkeley police rushed the scene.
Dhillon's post quickly gained traction among conservatives on social media, with supporters calling for greater enforcement of laws against political violence.
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