Well, not much left to say about The Battle of Berkeley that I (and everyone else) hasn't said already.Basically, the story is this:
Antifa (and BAMN and the Black Bloc and various assorted lefties and anarchists) have been attacking/bating/cold-cocking and assaulting people willy-nilly with essentially no pushback for years now, at every event they "attend." But the Milo event in February received massively more publicity than the previous violent riots (even though it wasn't any more violent than all the previous riots), and as a result of the publicity a lot of the Infowars/4chan/Proud Boys/"alt-right" types all over California basically said "Enough of this ****: we are TIRED of Antifa on one hand attacking people with impunity and then on the other hand acting like Oppressed Victims when anybody puts up their arms to defend themselves. No matter how bad Antifa and their ilk act, the Right always gets blamed for the violence. So -- if we're gonna get blamed anyway, let's at least play on an equal playing field with these Antifa assholes."
So a hasty "Free Speech rally" was scheduled for Berkeley for March 4, for the very purpose of luring Antifa into the trap: For the first time, the Free Speech protesters would be ready to defend themselved. As right on cue on March 4, some Antifa showed up, started attacking, and to their shock got punched back.
Everybody got excited by the taste of blood and this impromptu brawl, so a second face-off was scheduled, this time with enough lead-time for everyone to get their full troops assembled. That second brawl was the one on April 15. EVERYONE knew about it ahead of time.
Every "alt-right"/Trump-supporting/free-speech hardcore group showed up in Berkeley ready to rumble -- and yes, unfortunately, a small handful of extreme skinhead/gang/neo-Nazi types -- and against them assembled an equal number of Antifa/Black Bloc/BAMN and assorted commies and anarchists.
Game on. For the first time, it was "No more Mr. Nice Guy" and no more "victim-posturing for the camera."
Result: Antifa got their ***** kicked, and were literally driven from the park and fled.
Ooooooh, dearest me, right-wingers threw punches! Let us clutch our pearls!
But that's the point. People's patience was used up. Saturday's punches were in response to YEARS of being punched and not being allowed to fight back.
