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The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is launching a formal investigation into violent clashes between Antifa demonstrators and attendees at a Turning Point USA event in California, officials said Tuesday.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon condemned the unrest, saying the violence echoed the infamous 2017 riots at the University of California, Berkeley.
“We saw all of this at Berkeley back in 2017,” Dhillon wrote Tuesday on X. “@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.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed later in the day that the incident was 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,” Bondi said 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.”
Authorities said the confrontation broke out Monday night outside Zellerbach Hall, where the Turning Point USA student chapter was hosting an event featuring comedian Rob Schneider and Christian author Frank Turek. Videos shared online showed chaotic scenes of shouting, shoving and pepper spray as protesters attempted to block attendees from entering the venue.
Police were called to disperse the demonstrators after a physical altercation erupted when a masked protester tackled a man selling memorial “Freedom” shirts honoring Turning Point co-founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated two months earlier while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Several punches were thrown before Berkeley police intervened.
Dhillon’s remarks drew comparisons to the 2017 Berkeley riots, when Antifa protesters violently disrupted an event featuring then-Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. That unrest caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and led to a lawsuit that UC Berkeley later settled.
