On Monday, authorities detained at least eight individuals in connection with a Turning Point USA gathering held at the University of California, Berkeley.
The Daily Californian reported that four of those arrested were university students, though it withheld their names. These individuals were described as women between the ages of 20 and 22, each facing charges of felony vandalism.
Records from the Santa Rita County Jail list four women matching these descriptions who were taken into custody on Monday. Although Fox News Digital is still awaiting official confirmation of their identities, UC Berkeley’s Assistant Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs, Dan Mogulof, has verified the arrests.
Mogulof revealed to Fox News Digital that the arrests took place early Monday morning.
The report indicates that the women were apprehended while attempting to hang a “five-foot-tall cardboard bug” from Sather Gate, a historic landmark on campus, as a form of protest against the event.
In California, any property damage exceeding $400 is classified as felony vandalism.
The Turning Point event featured actor Rob Schneider and author Frank Turek, a Christian mentor of the organization’s late founder Charlie Kirk. Left-wing agitators swarmed Zellerbach Hall where the event, which was the last stop on the “This is the Turning Point” tour, was held.
At around 4:30 p.m. local time, a brawl broke out off campus between a man who appeared to support Turning Point, and a rival agitator.
The Berkeley Police Department told Fox News Digital on Monday night that at least two people had been arrested as of 6 p.m. local time.
“I do not have the specific details of what the arrests were for,” the police spokesperson said. “At this point, I can share that one of the parties was arrested for battery.”
Mogulof also confirmed the two arrests stemming from the melee.
Mogulof also told Fox News Digital that two more people were arrested for alleged nonviolent offenses, though it is unclear whether they are students at the school.
“As far as I know preliminarily, there was no violence involved,” he said. “They were people who were refusing to follow the orders of police in terms of moving away from a barricade or not blocking an entrance.”
Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, sparking an explosion of interest in Turning Point among high school and college students nationwide.
In response, Kirk and Turning Point’s detractors have viciously opposed the group, and often mocked Kirk’s death.
