One University of California Berkeley student was arrested on Thursday after he was caught destroying College Republican signs around campus.
The signs were placed around campus by the Berkeley College Republicans. Two students destroyed a Trump yard sign, and one of them tried to ram College Republican member Naweed Tahmas with his bike when Tahmas took their picture to give to campus police.
The university police found one of the students and arrested him. He was released within an hour and was cited for misdemeanor vandalism charges. SF Gate reported that the student posted about his arrest on Facebook after he was released.
"UCPD used an hour of their resources to detain me for an hour over a Trump placard. I almost became a hashtag because UC Berkeley protects racist organizations," he wrote.
Tahmas wasn't deterred by the incident. Instead, he said it made him more motivated to get the message of College Republicans heard around campus.
"It’s just more motivation to keep going out there and working hard and being out there for the community. And encourage open discussion and open dialogue," Tahmas said.
The College Republican signs have been targeted in series of vandalism. The first incident occurred on Tuesday and was caught on video, showing an individual breaking apart a wooden sign that read "Berkeley College Republicans." This individual has yet to be found by the police.
The individual didn't seem to be bothered that he was being recorded while he destroyed the signs. At one point during the video, the perpetrator approached those recording and asked if the signs could be used as compost.
The video of the incident was posted on Facebook by the Berkeley College Republicans.
After the incident, the conservative group Prager University donated a new sign to the Berkeley College Republicans.
Thanks to @prageru for our amazing new sign! pic.twitter.com/GgMbOLgePX
— Berkeley Republicans (@BerkeleyCRs) March 3, 2017
On Saturday, after the vandalism occurred, there was a violent outbreak between supporters of Trump and anti-Trump protesters at a pro-Trump rally occurring a few blocks away from Berkeley's campus.