Bennett said UCPD did not ask Yiannopoulos to leave, which is contrary to what Yiannopoulos said in a Facebook post, and that he left voluntarily. Bennett estimates security costs for today totaled roughly $800,000.
The event was not what it had been billed to be. A student group, Berkeley Patriot, had for months said it would hold a week full of speeches hosting controversial conservative speakers. But on Friday, members of the group told KQED that they were calling it off.
The university administration said it had geared up for the event, planning to dispatch police troops in riot gear.
Mogulof said in a statement last week that the university was deeply committed to free speech and would continue to work with student groups in the future to bring speakers to campus.
The debate and back-and-forth over free speech on campus goes back decades, but was inflamed again at the beginning of this year when another student group -- the Berkeley College Republicans -- invited Yiannopoulos to speak on campus.
Left-wing protesters shut down the Feb. 1 event before it even started. Clashes on Sproul Plaza, the heart of UC Berkeley’s campus and the birthplace of the country’s Free Speech Movement during the 1960s, scared liberals and conservatives alike.
The atmosphere was different on Sunday, with a heavy police presence and barricades limiting access to Sproul, as supporters and opponents of Yiannopoulos gathered ahead of his appearance. He didn't have a permit to appear at Sproul.
Counterprotesters held signs saying things like, "Republicans equal proto-fascists" and "Know! the Trump-Pence regime must go!" Chants of "Nazi Scum, off our streets" were countered with "USA, USA!"
Trump supporters were wearing hats that read "Make America Great Again." Others were wearing American flags, and one woman -- Desiree Parsons -- said she traveled from Michigan to support free speech. Wearing a T-shirt bearing the words, "Defund Berkeley," she said she thinks public universities that engage in censorship should be defunded.
