Ben Shapiro’s Berkeley speech wasn’t met with the violence he expected

For the first time in a while, violence doesn’t break out at a right-wing political event in Berkeley.

Berkeley finally caught a break Thursday night as the California city managed to accommodate a political event featuring former Breitbart News columnist and conservative provocateur Ben Shapiro thanks to a massive police presence.

According to several media reports, the city and the University of California-Berkeley spent an estimated $600,000 to pay for additional security for the event, including metal detectors and barricades designed to separate attendees from protesters. An estimated 700 people were admitted to the speech while around 1,000 people protested it outside. A university police spokesman said that just 9 people were arrested.

Shapiro’s address was the first large-scale far right event in the city in recent months that did not break out into melee combat.

Shapiro’s event was sponsored by the Berkeley College Republicans. Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman — a Trump supporter who heads a paramilitary group called the Fraternal Order of Alt Knights — attended and asked a question afterward about “racism against whites.” Shapiro responded by saying that affirmative action policies were racist, according to the local student newspaper, the Daily Californian.

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