Thousands Of People Protested Hate In Berkeley After A Right-Wing Rally Was Canceled

The protest happened one day after a similar rally was canceled in San Francisco.

A handful of far-right protesters and hundreds of counter-protesters took over downtown Berkeley Sunday after a planned "No to Marxism" rally was canceled.

On Saturday, a similar rally also failed to go as planned in neighboring San Francisco.

The police arrested 14 people over the course of more than four hours during a largely peaceful protest in and around Martin Luther King Jr., Civic Center Park in downtown Berkeley, a spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department told BuzzFeed News.

From the outset, counter-protesters outnumbered the right-wing activists by as much as 15 to 1. The few who were there left the park, were escorted out by police, or were chased out by counter-protesters.

Right wingers in Berkeley are getting mobbed by counter protesters

Shouting down right-wing blogger Irma Hinojosa with "Nazi scum off our streets!" Police just escorted her out of th… https://t.co/ptf2s0v6NY

Chants rang out throughout the park — "Stand up, fight back!" "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!" — as well as cheers whenever a right-wing activist left the premises.

Protesters singing in Berkeley right now

Shortly after 1 p.m., an estimated 200 activists dressed in all-black filled the park. There was a brief stand-off between them and a line of police officers wearing gas masks.

The Antifa Black Bloc is entering the park now: "Take the park! Take the park!"

Antifa and other leftist counter protesters are moving to form a defensive line on one side of MLK Civic Center par… https://t.co/Iiw8uo8DXx

In a scuffle, police set off tear gas and smoke bombs.

Two smoke bomb dropped, as well as a rubber bullet that i didn't catch on video #BerkRally

By 2 p.m., people were flooding the streets outside the park.

Here's a video of leftist counter protesters chasing a far right protester into a gas station in Berkeley

Thousands of protesters are now in the streets outside of MLK Civic Center Park

"We chased these Nazis out of the park!" one speaker told the crowd. "Fascists are not welcome here. We are declaring victory."

UPDATE

This story has been updated with the number of people arrested, according to Berkeley police.


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