'NO FEDERAL FUNDS?': Trump threatens UC Berkeley after campus erupts in protests over Milo Yiannopoulos speech

Jonathan Garber

Feb 2, 2017, 17:27 IST

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

President Donald Trump pauses during a ceremony in Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017, for the swearing in ceremony of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

President Donald Trump appears to have threatened to pull federal funding from the University of California, Berkeley after the campus experienced violent protests over a planned speech from conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.

"If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?," Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday morning.

UC Berkeley received $370 million in federal research funding in 2015-2016, according to the university's website.

Yiannopoulos, a Breitbart editor who many identify with the alt-right, a white-nationalist ideology, was set to appear as part of a book tour.

The event was canceled after demonstrators threw smoke bombs and flares at buildings, the Associated Press and local media reported.

UC Berkeley, notably, is considered the home of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s.

AP Photo/Ben Margot

Protestors watch a bonefire on Sproul Plaza during a rally against the scheduled speaking appearance by Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos on the University of California at Berkeley campus on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017, in Berkeley, Calif.

UC Berkeley issued this statement on the protests:

"Amid violence, destruction of property and out of concern for public safety, the University of California Police Department determined that it was necessary to remove Milo Yiannopoulos from the campus and to cancel tonight's scheduled 8 p.m. performance.
The decision was made at about 6 p.m., two hours before the event, and officers read several dispersal announcements to the crowd of more than 1,500 protesters that had gathered outside of the Martin Luther King, Jr. ASUC venue.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence and unlawful behavior that was on display and deeply regret that those tactics will now overshadow the efforts to engage in legitimate and lawful protest against the performer's presence and perspectives."

Bryan Logan contributed reporting to this story.

Editor's note: Milo Yiannopoulos has previously authored columns published by Business Insider.