Newsom breaks silence on violent Berkeley protest of TPUSA at California university

Two days after agitators violently disrupted a TPUSA event in Berkeley, California, the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, broke his silence and spoke out on the matter through a spokesperson. 

"Violence is not a legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights," a spokesperson for Newsom's office told Fox News Digital on Wednesday afternoon. "While people have the right to protest, it must be done peacefully."

Newsom's office pointed out that the majority of demonstrators peacefully protested, with 6 arrests out of a total of more than 900, and that the agitators were controlled by state and local law enforcement. 

The incident unfolded on Monday night on the campus of UC Berkeley at a Turning Point event featuring actor Rob Schneider and author Frank Turek, a Christian mentor of the organization's late founder, Charlie Kirk. Left-wing agitators swarmed Zellerbach Hall, where the event, which was the last stop on the "This is the Turning Point" tour, was held.

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Four students at the university were arrested, according to The Daily Californian, which omitted the suspects' names from its report. They were described as females between the ages of 20 and 22. Each was reportedly charged with felony vandalism.

The UC Berkeley Police Department confirmed that two other men were arrested during the night's activities. 

Christopher Joseph Benton, 48, who is unaffiliated with the school, was arrested for trespassing, resisting or obstructing an officer and being unlawfully present on campus, all misdemeanors. 

Jay Eduardo Maytorena, 22, listed as a current or former student, was arrested for trespassing and resisting or obstructing an officer. 

Several of the skirmishes at the event went viral, including a man caught on video beating a Turning Point USA supporter who was arrested and charged with violent crimes. 

Police said that upon further investigation, the second man involved in the fight was attempting to rob the victim of his necklace. 

"After speaking with the involved parties and corroborating information through open-source media footage, officers determined that one of the men-Jihad Dphrepaulezz (a 25-year-old Oakland man) had stolen the other man's chain from around his neck," police said. "The other man was attempting to get his chain back from Dphrepaulezz."

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Newsom, who is in Brazil attending the COP 30 climate conference, has not posted about the disruption of the event, which conservatives have labeled as an assault on free speech. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Newsom famously sat down for an interview with Kirk before the conservative commentator was murdered, and the two briefly touched on free speech while discussing TikTok. Newsom raised concerns about teachers "policing speech" in classrooms. 

"Grateful this level of attention being paid to what happened to our students last night at UC Berkeley," Turning Point USA's Andrew Kolvet posted on X. 

"No one attending a peaceful event should be subjected to the type of harassment and attacks we saw last night. The Antifa thugs who did this MUST be stopped."

The Department of Justice announced it is investigating the campus chaos.

"Mob assault and thuggish intimidation of attendees exercising their First Amendment rights are unacceptable," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a post announcing the probe on X.

The DOJ has demanded that the school preserve all records related to security and campus preparation for the Turning Point event. 

In a lengthy statement provided to Fox News Digital, UC Berkeley strongly condemned all violence and threats that may chill freedom of speech. It also said it will cooperate with the federal investigation. 

"The University is conducting a full investigation and intends to fully cooperate with and assist any federal investigations and the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force to identify the outside agitators responsible for attempting to disrupt last night's TPUSA event," the statement said. "UC Berkeley will take all appropriate steps to safeguard the right of every member of our community to speak and assemble freely."

Fox News Digital's Peter D'Abrosca and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.