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At Least Three Arrested During Shapiro Event at UC Berkeley

DanielMontes/ScottMorris (BCN)
Thursday September 14, 2017 - 11:02:00 PM

At least three people have been arrested in Berkeley this evening as hundreds of people gathered at the University of California at Berkeley for an event in which conservative host Ben Shapiro was set to speak, police said.  

Police have identified two of the arrestees as Sarah Roark, 44, of San Francisco and Hannah Benjamin, 20, of Fremont.  

Roark was arrested on suspicion of carrying a banned weapon and Benjamin was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer and carrying a banned weapon, according to police.  

Shapiro was scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse in an event titled "Say No to Campus Thuggery." The event is being put on by the Berkeley College Republicans and Young America's Foundation.  

About 200 people gathered near Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue ahead of the event, many of them to protest Shapiro's appearance.  

Bancroft Way between Bowditch and Ellsworth streets has been closed to vehicular traffic, police said.