Protest: Charlie Kirk at UC Davis

Students began protesting at Kirk’s planned venue at five, a small group that doubled in size every few minutes. Right-wing event attendees and streamers prodded the crowd with jeers and fake-outs while the student resistance performed pro-Trans, feminist, anti-racist, and anti-fascist chants. At 5:50, a surge of new anti-Kirk activists poured in with banners and pushed to the event entrance, bringing the resistance crowd to between 250 and 300 people. A line of fifty or so Turning Point USA supporters were preparing for the event doors to open at 6.

Beyond shouts, the groups didn’t clash immediately. Attendees began trickling past the growing throng of riot police and into the event center. As police presence grew heavily, a quick and brutal arrest was made of an outlying activist, then a second. Six proud boys slowly peeked out before making their way into the field, some holding up white power symbols. The crowd jeered for them to come closer. Outnumbered twenty-five to one, they backed away.

Suddenly, the crowd came alive and surged towards the fleeing fascists. When the corner was turned, the crowd regained the target of the event and struck back against it, subverting police forces and evading fascists. Riot police slowed by bewilderment and equipment were unable to stop property damage.

With the goal achieved, the crowd fell back together, and the riot police scrambled to regain control of the event area. The crowd paused and more fully regained itself before marching away; after a little while, they circled back to the event center. A smaller number of fascists again attempted to attack the crowd but were boldly confronted, fleeing almost immediately.

The crowd then turned its attention to the police line that was still defending Turning Point USA’s event. The crowd found courage in the chant “An! Anti! Anti-fascista!”, stomping to the rhythm and moving forward. The police rammed batons into banners, sending aimless jabs into students. The brutal beatings continued for minutes on end as the crowd moved to cover its blind spots, finding needs and meeting them.