Berkeley protests of Yiannopoulos caused $100,000 in damage
Yiannopoulos had been invited to speak by the Berkeley College Republicans. He has been on a college speaking tour and had planned to speak about cultural appropriation on Wednesday.
In a Facebook Live video, Yiannopoulos described what happened as "an expression of political violence."
"I'm just stunned that hundreds of people. were so threatened by the idea that a conservative speaker might be persuasive, interesting, funny and might take some people with him, they have to shut it down at all costs."
President Donald Trump weighed in on Twitter, suggesting the possibility of cutting federal funds to the public university.
"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 tweeted Thursday morning.
If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
Later, Yiannopoulos posted Trump's tweet to Facebook and proclaimed himself "the catalyst for this change."
"American universities are on notice. The President is watching," he wrote. "The days you could silence conservative and libertarian voices on campus and still expect to collect their tax money are coming to an end."
But some protesters said the Yiannopoulos event wasn't a matter of free speech, because he espouses hate speech.
UC Berkeley said it had prepared security measures following what had happened at Yiannopoulos' previous events. One of his planned speaking engagements at UC Davis was also canceled last month in response to protests.
"Ultimately, and unfortunately, however, it was impossible to maintain order given the level of threat, disruption and organized violence," UC Berkeley said in a statement.
Controversial speech
Most UC Berkeley students who spoke with CNN said they were relieved that Yiannopoulos wasn't able to speak, but this was not how they wanted to accomplish that goal.
One student told CNN that he didn't agree with what happened.
"It's a sad irony in the fact that the Free Speech Movement was founded here and tonight, someone's free speech got shut down. It might have been hateful speech, but it's still his right to speak," said Shivam Patel, a freshmen who stood outside of Sproul Plaza.
The Free Speech Movement started at UC Berkeley in 1964 after students protested en masse when administrators tried to restrict their political activities on campus.
Patel said he supported peaceful protests, but disagreed with the way things turned out on Wednesday.
"It allows people on the right to say, 'Look at all these liberal Berkeley snowflakes. They're intolerant of speech.' I don't think it's productive at all. It does nothing to help this country."
CNN's Jamiel Lynch and Stephanie Becker contributed to this report.