Trump Threatens Cal Berkeley’s Federal Funds Over Milo Yiannopoulos Protests

President Donald Trump tweeted a threat early Thursday to cut off federal funding to the University of California, Berkeley, the morning after campus officials canceled a scheduled speech by alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos due to protests that turned violent. An estimated 1,500 demonstrators gathered outside the venue where the controversial Breitbart editor was set to speak. Fires were lit, windows were smashed, and firebombs set off after sunset, amid chants of “No Trump, No Milo.” “The violence was instigated by a group of about 150 masked agitators who came onto campus and interrupted an otherwise nonviolent protest,” UC Berkeley said in a statement. Campus police are said to have disbursed the crowd with pepper balls; six people were treated for injuries related to the protests, and no arrests were reported. In a Twitter post, Trump issued a warning: “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” Yiannopoulos, who has been banned from Twitter and triggered a publishing-world boycott over his book deal with Simon & Schuster, had been invited to speak by the Berkeley College Republicans. “Something very disturbing happened on the UC Berkeley campus,” Yiannopoulos said in a Facebook Live video. “I’m just sitting in my hotel room, stunned, that hundreds of people were throwing rocks… and had to be subdued… because they’re so threatened.”