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They dressed “like ninjas” and marched onto UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza like a paramilitary force armed with bats, steel rods, fireworks and Molotov cocktails, officials say.

People protesting controversial Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos burn trash and cardboard in the street on Feb. 1, 2017, in Berkeley. (Credit: Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images)
People protesting controversial Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos burn trash and cardboard in the street on Feb. 1, 2017, in Berkeley. (Credit: Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images)

The scheduled appearance Wednesday of conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was still two hours away, but it was precisely the time that most local television stations were beginning their live 6 p.m. broadcasts.

Within minutes, the group of 100 to 150 agitators had smashed half a dozen windows with barricades, launched fireworks at police and toppled a diesel-powered klieg light, which caused it to burst into flames.

“They didn’t come to lock arms and sing ‘Kumbaya,’” said Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor and spokesman for the UC Berkeley. “They came to [mess stuff] up,” he said, using stronger language.

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