
Berkeley police say letting Antifa beat up reporters, protesters 'forestalled greater violence' - Liberty Unyielding
The rally had originally been planned by organizer Amber Cummings, who billed it as a "No to Marxism" protest. It was scheduled in Berkeley for the day after a Patriot Prayer rally in San Francisco, which was cancelled hours before the start time due to the threat of Antifa violence.
Amber Cummings was actually urging her supporters not to show up in Berkeley, due to the same threat of violence, although she herself said she would still be there. Berkeley had denied her a permit — which probably has more to do with things like the Berkeley mayor's affinity for groups like Antifa than with anything else — but she and a small number of people from the Patriot Prayer group appeared in Berkeley anyway on Sunday 28 August. (News reporting suggests they numbered in the dozens, at most.)