BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Ann Coulter did not turn up in Berkeley where hundreds held a raucous but largely peaceful demonstration in her absence and lamented what they called the latest blow to free speech in the home of America's free speech movement.
The conservative pundit's canceled appearance at the Universityof California, Berkeley drew hundreds of her supporters to adowntown park Thursday, many of them dressed in flak jackets,ballistic helmets adorned with pro-Donald Trump stickers andother protective gear in anticipation of violence.
But there were no major confrontations betweenCoulter's supporters and opponents, largelybecause of a significant police presence and the fact thatmembers of an extremist left-wing group did not show up toprovoke clashes.
Coulter had publicly floated the idea of making acontroversial visit to Berkeley despite the cancellation, butdid not show.
Her supporters and students on the UC Berkeley campus, many ofwhom expressed distaste for Coulter's politicalviews, voiced frustration that she didn't get to speak and thatthe university's reputation as a bastion of tolerance wassuffering. Coulter planned to give a speech onillegal immigration.
"I don't like Ann Coulter'sviews but I don't think in this case the right move was to shuther down," said 24-year-old grad student Yevgeniy Melguy, whoheld a sign earlier in the day saying "Immigrants Are WelcomeHere."
Anthropology major Christina Katkic, 21, worried that theuniversity was getting increasingly stuck in the middle of thecountry's political divide.
"Berkeley has become a platform and a lot of people want tocome here and use it," said Katkic, who had joined otherstudents on campus blowing bubbles near a message scrawled onthe ground in chalk that read: "If only bubbles actually madeour campus safe."
"I think Ann Coulter has a rightto speak here. Berkeley students are interested in politicaldiscourse," she said.
University police erected barricades and refused to let anyprotesters enter the campus. Six people were arrested,including one for obstructing an officer and wearing a mask toevade police, and another for possessing a knife.
Hundreds of Coulter's supporters gathered about amile (1.6 kilometers) from the university's main Sproul Plazaat the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in downtownBerkeley.
"It's a shame that someone can't speak in the home of the freespeech movement," said Wilson Grafstrom, an 18-year-old highschool student from Menlo Park, California.
He wore a helmet with a "Make America Great Again" stickeracross the back, goggles, a gas mask and knee pads. He blamedpeople opposed to Coulter and President DonaldTrump for forcing him to gear up for problems.
Gavin McInnes, co-founder of Vice Media and founder of thepro-Trump "Proud Boys," was one of several speakers at thegathering. He delivered the speech Coulter hadplanned to give on illegal immigration, on her behalf, to thecrowd's raucous applause.
"They tried to ban her and we can't allow that. It'sunacceptable," McInnes said as he left the gathering surroundedby private security. "Free speech is about uncomfortablespeech. Yes, it's often about hate speech and it's about speechthat's banned."
On its Facebook page, McInnes' group calls itself a fraternalorganization aimed at "reinstating a spirit of Westernchauvinism during an age of globalism and multiculturalism."
While the afternoon rally ended without serious conflict,police at one point formed a human wall in the streetseparating anti-Trump protesters from the park where pro-Trumpgroups were gathered.
Anti-Coulter and anti-Trump protesters at the park held abanner that read: "It's not about 'free speech,' it's aboutbigots trying to normalize hate."
Earlier this month, a bloody brawl broke out in downtownBerkeley at a pro-Trump protest that featured speeches bymembers of the white nationalist right. They clashed with agroup of Trump critics who called themselves anti-fascists.
In February, violent protesters forced the cancellation of aspeech by right-wing writer Milo Yiannopoulos, who likeCoulter was invited by campus Republicans.
Officials at UC Berkeley said they feared renewed violence oncampus if Coulter followed through with plans tospeak, citing "very specific intelligence" of threats thatcould endanger Coulter and students, whichCoulter said was motivated by a university biasagainst conservative speakers.
Police had faced criticism after the earlier clashes forfailing to stop the violence.
UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof credited the peacefulness ofThursday's rallies partly to an increased police presence. Hedeclined to specify how many police were deployed but saidthere were a "wide range" of local and regional agenciespresent.
"I think it's clear that having a strong visible policepresence was important both in terms of deterrence and lawenforcement," he said, noting that even inCoulter's absence hundreds descended on Berkeley."This points to the challenges we face in the climate we'reliving in."
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Associated Press writers Janie Har and Kristin J. Bendercontributed to this report from San Francisco.
