Charges include assault with a deadly weapon, felony assault and various municipal code violations.
The rallies Sunday saw approximately 4,000 “antifa” agitators and other leftists shut down a “No to Marxism” rally and prayer vigil being held by about 400 conservative Christians. The leftists took over Martin Luther King Jr. Park near the University of California Berkeley campus and beat several of the anti-Marxist protesters.
One officer was injured while making an arrest, and several others were struck with paint and bottles.
The San Francisco Chronicle, which had reporters on the scene Sunday, referred to the antifa crowd as anarchists:
“The masked counterprotesters, often referred to as antifa or antifascists, significantly outnumbered the people who had come for the rally, many of whom wore red clothing indicating support for President Trump. The anarchists chased away the right-wingers, and in one case four or five pummeled a man with fists and sticks before a radio host for Reveal, Al Letson, jumped in to shield the victim. Anarchists also attacked reporters who documented their actions.”
The average age of the 13 people arrested is 30.
Clare Lopez, vice president of research and analysis for the Center for Security Policy, said the mugshots reveal that the people behind the antifa masks were mostly professional agitators, not local college students.
“With an average age of 30, those arrested during the violent Berkeley riots of Sunday 27 August do not fit the profile of the average college undergrad,” Lopez told WND.
“In fact, they more closely fit the profile of professional off-campus thugs,” she said. “And once we understand that antifa is a motley collection of Marxist-Leninist anarchists, the direct descendants of the 1920s and 1930s communist street fighters in Europe, the better we will be prepared to realize why these hoodlums so violently targeted a ‘No To Marxism’ rally. Antifa was there to defend communism and plunge America into chaos.”
Antifa’s war cry, caught on video during the rally, was no less than the total destruction of American society.
“No Trump, no wall, no USA at all!” they chanted.
Red State author Teri Christoph wrote:
“No, it’s not surprising that these be-masked thugs hate the USA and that Berkeley is their home base for their hatred. The city has welcomed them with open arms and should now be considered occupied by an enemy state.
“Make no mistake, though. Donald Trump is just today’s convenient excuse for anti-Americans to be anti-America and thugs to be thugs. This kind of nonsense pre-dates Trump and will still be around after Trump if we don’t name this evil and fight back against it.”
Philip Haney, a retired Homeland Security officer and co-author of the book “See Something Say Nothing,” said today’s hardcore left mimics the tactics of the Islamic jihadists with whom they are allied.
“The Islamists say Islam is a religion of peace, but they won’t condemn the jihadists and attack anyone who does as Islamophobic. In the same way, the Democrats say, ‘We believe in peace, equality, diversity and inclusiveness,’ but they won’t condemn antifa and anyone who disagrees with them politically is a fascist,” Haney said.
“These are hardcore people,” he said. “They are totally sold on this thing and willing to take it to the brink.”
Lopez said it’s also clear where their funding is coming from – the likes of George Soros-affiliated foundations, the Tides Foundation and other cash-rich foundations and NGOs.
The names, ages and places of residence for the 13 arrestees are as follows [cities of residence are in California unless otherwise noted]:
- Seth Vasquez, 25-year-old male from Berkeley.
- Mark Misohink, 23-year-old male from Berkeley.
- James Dominic, 23-year-old male from Oakland.
- Kristopher Wyrick, 39-year-old male from Alpine.
- Harlan Pankau, 38-year-old male from Jamul.
- Levi Smith, 32-year-old male from Sparks, Nevada.
- Sean Hines, 20-year-old male from Santa Rosa.
- Brittany Moorman, 26-year-old female from Oakland.
- Yesenia Mandez, 22-year-old female (unknown city).
- Emily Gillespie, 24-year-old female from Berkeley.
- Sean Dougan, 47-year-old male from Portland, Oregon.
- Rachel Moore, 40-year-old female from Oakland.
- Joshua Phillips, 26-year-old male from Oakland.
Blogger James Woods responded immediately Tuesday to one of the first mugshots released of an antifa criminal suspect with this sarcastic tweet:
Tom Trento, president of the United West organization, which defends Western values against Shariah and leftist aggression, posted an alert on his website Tuesday titled “Democrats: Jumping the Shark, Losing their Minds.”
“Not content with just getting high and living in squalor, the rag-tag group of disgruntled children, wearing Halloween masks, donning Marxist clothing and calling themselves, ANTIFA, have organized to such a degree that the dopey Democrat elected leaders now praise this gang of terrorists as the second coming of America’s Founding Fathers!
“We only have two problems with that arrangement. First, the Antifa scum are truly dedicated to violent overthrow of capitalism and will ‘jump-the-shark’ to use any event to shock America into listening to their disturbed voices. Second, the Democrats are endorsing this insanity, thus a full-frontal attack against the foundations of American culture, social organization and political stability is developing right before our eyes.”
James Simpson, author of “The Red-Green Axis,” said antifa consists of a loosely affiliated network of communists, Marxists and anarchists who are anything but shy about their goals. He believes they should be declared a domestic terrorist organization.
“Communism is the polar opposite of free market capitalism. It cannot compete honestly. It thrives on envy and destroys everything it touches. Communists are the evolutionary endpoint to human depravity,” Simpson writes in an essay for Bombthrowers.com.
“Even the communists themselves do not believe the ‘racist, sexist, xenophobe’ narrative they constantly spew,” he added. “The true goal is to destroy our credibility through intimidation and shaming. The reality of this strategy is demonstrated by its history of use.”
Vladimir Lenin, the father of Soviet communism, may have been the first to lay out this strategy, Simpson said.