Battle for Berkeley

Overview

The Battle for Berkeley refers to a violent riot that occurred at a pro-Trump rally between Trump supporters and counter-protesters in Berkeley, California in mid April 2017.

Background

On April 15th, 2017, a pro-Trump rally was held in Berkeley, California, which turned violent during a clash with Antifa counter-protesters. Over the course of the day, nine people were injured, with six requiring hospitalization.

Developments

That day, the WeAreChange YouTube channel posted footage of a female counter-protester being punched in the face by a man wearing a blue button down shirt (shown below).

Shortly after, the man in the video was identified as Identity Evropa founder Nathan Damigo, a white nationalist and former United States Marine corporal. According to a Los Angeles Times^[2] article published in September 2016, Damigo became a white supremacist while in prison for armed robbery. Meanwhile, The Ralph Retort^[3] published an article purportedly showing a social media post made by the woman in the video, who was subsequently nicknamed "Moldylocks," in which she announced she was "determined to bring back 100 Nazi scalps" prior to attending the counter-protest.

Later that day, journalist Tim Pool uploaded footage of fireworks exploding during the riot, noting that he witnessed Antifa protesters throwing M-80 explosives into crowds of Trump supporters (shown below, left). Meanwhile, YouTuber The Last Stand uploaded footage of a man offering a Pepsi to Antifa counter-protesters as a peace offering, in reference to Kendall Jenner's Pepsi ad (shown below, right).

Meanwhile, Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer tweeted a video in which he questions a police officer about their lack of involvement (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 7,000 retweets and 6,600 likes.

During the riot, police arrested Kyle Chapman (a.k.a. Based Stickman), leading to several posts calling for his release on Twitter and 4chan.

Pepsi Cop

Also on April 15th, Redditor dinoclub posted a photograph of a police officer holding a case of Pepsi at the rally, which subsequently received more than 56,300 points and 2,000 comments on /r/pics^[6] (shown below, left). Shortly after, Redditor vizakenjaro submitted the photo to /r/photoshopbattles,^[7] where several photoshopped versions of the image were posted in the comments.

Bike Lock Assaults

On April 16th, 2017, YouTuber Shuttershot45 uploaded footage in which an unarmed man standing in a group of people is struck over the head with a metal bike u-lock by a masked antifa protester, causing him to bleed profusely from the wound (shown below).

Over the next several days, 4chan users began attempting to identify the masked man, who some speculated was college professor Eric Clanton, who previous taught ethics at Diablo Valley College in Contra Costa County, California (shown below). On April 20th, /r/KotakuInAction moderator nodeworx submitted a post announcing that two mainstream media sources reporting on the incident would be required to post the name of the suspected bike lock assailant. In the comment section, Redditor Haposhi posted several other videos of the masked man hitting other people with the bike lock.^[8]

On May 10th, YouTuber Internet Historian uploaded a video about the bike lock assault titled "The Bikelock Fugitive of Berkeley," which discussed how 4chan's /pol/ board attempted to identify the suspect (shown below). Within two weeks, the video received upwards of 470,000 views and 2,700 comments.

On May 24th, 2017, the East Bay Times^[9] reported that former Diablo Valley College professor Eric Clanton had been arrested in connection with the bike lock assaults, with police confirming that Clanton had been identified as the attacker shown in Shuttershot45's video.

Search Interest

External References