Hundreds of protesters and over 300 police officers surrounded University of California Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, as Turning Point USA (TPUSA) held its final of nine college campus tour stops — two months after the assassination of founder Charlie Kirk during a speech at Utah Valley University.
TPUSA, a conservative advocacy organization known for controversial stances on various social issues, organized the tour stop featuring right-wing speakers. Critics argue the organization’s rhetoric promotes hate speech and endangers marginalized communities, fueling protests that have followed TPUSA events across college campuses.
By 4 p.m., two and a half hours before the sold-out event began, protesters had gathered on Bancroft chanting “F--- you fascists” and “Fascists out of Berkeley.” Officers from University of California Police Department, Berkeley Police, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Coast Guard formed a perimeter around the venue, some with batons raised and pointed at protesters, while others monitored from rooftops of surrounding buildings.
The event involved several violent altercations throughout the evening. At 5:35 p.m., a car repeatedly backfired on Bancroft Way, creating gunshot-like sounds. The car caused chaos and protesters to duck and run as smoke filled the air. According to UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof, a 45-year-old male attendee was struck in the head with a glass bottle and transported to a hospital for a laceration.
Around 6:30 p.m., two people who were arguing began to fight, and one was detained by police.
“I felt the wall of police close in. They grabbed me from behind, dragged me so fast my shoe fell off, and my knees were all skinned. I had my cane out … but they pinned my arms behind me,” one protester, who requested anonymity for safety reasons and was detained, said, “It happened so fast I didn’t even realize what was going on until I was already being dragged away.”
According to the protester, they had been holding an anti-fascism sign near the barricade around 5 p.m. when officers seized them from behind. The protester reported being detained inside the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union for over three hours — zip-tied and surrounded by police — until 15 minutes after the event ended. The protester said they were left with bruising on their upper arms and marks from the zip ties around their wrists. The Jacket was not able to independently corroborate the facts of this account.
The protester challenged the characterization of the event as a free speech matter. “People misconstrue what free speech means … Free speech means you get to say what you want and the government won’t arrest you … It doesn’t mean that people have to like what you have to say,” they said, “It just means that you have the right to say it.”
When doors opened at 5 p.m., attendees passed through metal detectors and bag checks. “Make America Great Again” and “47” hats (symbolizing Donald Trump as the 47th President) were handed out for free at the entrance. Inside, leading up to the start of the event, “Born in the USA,” “Thunderstruck,” “YMCA,” and other songs blasted out of the speakers.
The TPUSA event was kicked off by comedian Jobob Taeleifi, followed by UC Berkeley TPUSA chapter president John Paul Leon, author Frank Turek, and comedian Rob Schneider. The chair next to Schneider was left empty, with a freedom shirt and a 47 hat, in memory of Kirk.
After a moment of silence for Kirk, Leon announced, “Tonight, we are Charlie Kirk.” Audience members raised poster handouts of Kirk in solidarity and remembrance.
Turek began by reminiscing about the day that Kirk was assassinated, where he was present and with Kirk the whole day. He recalled “seeing his lifeless eyes in the back of the car.” He later argued that “if there is no God, there is no good, which means there are no rights and there is no justice,” claiming many protesters outside were atheists who couldn’t justify their moral positions.
Schneider began by thanking the Antifas for their welcome and declaring his love for Berkeley, but claimed that Berkeley is going through a “blip” — an “intolerant blip.”
Schneider argued that western civilization is “under attack,” saying that “the United States really is the last bastion of hope for the free world … as Charlie Kirk said, ‘if you do not assimilate, it is an invasion, and that’s what we are experiencing, that Western Europe is gone.’”
Audience members then lined up and asked questions, with Schneider encouraging those who disagree to skip to the front of the line. During the Q&A, one heckler in the crowd was escorted out while shouting, “You’re just like the guys outside.”
Once the event ended at 8:50 p.m., audience members exited and were greeted by protesters, once again chanting. In response, some attendees filmed protesters, laughed, or yelled back. The following day, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would investigate whether UC Berkeley provided adequate security at the event. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said her division would probe “potential failures at UC Berkeley and any who enabled such violence.”
“The voices that were super loud from the side of the protesters were all incredibly inflammatory, which I don’t actually believe is the right way to get them to change their mind,” Zayden Greene, a Berkeley High School alum who was protesting outside the event, said, “A better way would be a drum circle sharing love rather than every chant starting with ‘f--- you.’ Because then they’re like, ‘Oh, f--- me? F--- you,’ and then they go vote for Trump.”
BHS junior Noah Sukeforth is the president of the newly created BHS TPUSA chapter. Although he didn’t attend the event, he emphasized that his club aims to create a space for dialogue and free exchange of ideas. “My mom (who attended) was yelled at, called a racist, a Klansman, a homophobe … they also threw paint at her,” In reference to the TPUSA event, Sukeforth said, “I’m not against protesting — it’s your First Amendment right — but when protests get to that level of violence, it doesn’t help the cause.”
Sukeforth feels that there are common misconceptions about TPUSA and conservatism, and explained that to him, conservatism is just sticking to traditional values. “People associate Turning Point USA with the KKK, which is blatantly false,” Sukeforth said, “If people actually listened to what Charlie Kirk stood for, you’d find that he’s a really nice and genuine person.”
Sukeforth’s perspective represents a minority viewpoint at BHS, where conservative students are significantly outnumbered. Kash Goldblum, BHS senior and co-president of Speech and Debate, who was present during the protests, had a different view on TPUSA. “Berkeley prides itself in being a space for people to learn and grow in a safe community, however when you completely isolate a certain political group it negates the ability for key discourse to happen,” he explained, “Turning Point USA is a bad example of discourse, the audience couldn’t stop heckling and it was impossible to actually garner any educational value which is the entire point of spaces like that.”
Goldblum criticized TPUSA’s approach to discussing race and systemic inequality. “Probably the most heinous thing that TPUSA has done is politically weaponize race,” he pointed out, using Kirk’s “Critical Racism Tour” as an example. “It practically paints the premise itself of talking about systemic racism as inherently bad or ‘Anti-American,’ which is atrocious at its core.”
The evening’s violent altercations, arrests, and heavy police presence underscored the tensions that have recently come alongside political events on college campuses in the U.S. at large. With the Department of Justice now investigating Berkeley’s security response, Monday’s confrontations may have implications beyond campus. As Berkeley processes the night’s events, questions about free speech, protest tactics, and community safety persist.