A PROTESTER INVOLVED in a physical altercation outside of an event held by a conservative advocacy group at University of California, Berkeley on Monday made his initial appearance in court Thursday after being charged with felony robbery and battery, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Jihad Dphrepaulezz was arraigned Thursday at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland and is set to return Nov. 24 to enter a plea to the charges against him, prosecutors said.
Dphrepaulezz was arrested by Berkeley city police after allegedly ripping off the necklace of a merchandise vendor outside of the event Monday, leading to a physical altercation that left the other individual with blood visible on his face.
Berkeley police had initially arrested both men on suspicion of fighting in public before releasing the vendor and booking Dphrepaulezz into jail for alleged robbery and battery.
Multiple people were arrested in connection with actions against the event at Zellerbach Hall for the final stop of a college speaking tour by Turning Point USA, the conservative group whose co-founder Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at a tour stop at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. Turning Point’s UC Berkeley chapter was founded in 2019.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced it will be conducting a federal investigation into the protests. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, arrived in the Bay Area on Thursday as the investigation begins.
“Had great meetings today in San Francisco & Berkeley with our FBI and US Attorney colleagues and a witness concerning the Antifa violence there Monday,” said Dhillon in a message on social media regarding her visit.
Campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof said earlier this week that the university does not condone violence and plans to help authorities in their investigation.
“The University is conducting a full investigation and intends to fully cooperate with and assist any federal investigations and the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force to identify the outside agitators responsible for attempting to disrupt last night’s TPUSA event,” Mogulof said in an email.
However, activist groups denounced the federal investigation, saying it was a political tactic to intimidate those standing up against President Donald Trump’s administration.
Protesters say rally ‘freaked out’ Trump, MAGA
Mark Airgood, an organizer with the advocacy group By Any Means Necessary, said in an email that the administration was pursuing legal action out of alleged fear of the protesters and are looking for a party to punish.
“Whoever the DOJ decides will take the fall, it will be based on completely phony, unsubstantiated charges,” said Airgood. “Trump and his fascist MAGA movement were completely freaked out by the success of the anti-fascist rally led by Berkeley students on November 10, they have decided that somebody must be punished and that DOJ’s job is to decide who that should be.”
The post Man charged with robbery, battery following scuffle outside TPUSA event at UC Berkeley appeared first on Local News Matters.