A conservative activist is speaking out after a video surfaced this week showing him being punched in the face at the University of California at Berkeley.
Hayden Williams, who works for the Leadership Institute, which trains conservative activists, said he was on campus assisting UC Berkeley’s chapter of the right-wing group Turning Point USA when a man punched him in the face.
{mosads}Williams, who is not a UC Berkeley student, told Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Thursday that people “took offense” to a sign displayed at the group’s recruitment table, which said “hate crime hoaxes hurt real victims.”
“This person claimed we were promoting violence on campus and proceeded to take his aggression out on us,” Williams, who was sporting a black eye, said on the program.
“These two people just approached our table … very erratically and started cussing at us” he added.
The university and its police department did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
“The suspect … knocked over the table the victim was at and the two men struggled over the phone. During the incident, the suspect punched the victim several times causing injury to the victim’s eye and nose,” the University of California Police Department said in a statement obtained to CNN.
“The suspect is not a student at, or affiliate of the University,” the statement said.
Williams said he feared for his safety during the attack.
Turning Point USA, whose students were reportedly managing the table with Williams, released a recording of the attack, according to a local ABC affiliate.
UC Berkeley police told the affiliate that they are investigating the incident and released a photo of the suspect.
The university, in a statement, condemned the attack, stating that it did not tolerate “violence and harassment.”
“This University absolutely condemns violence and harassment no matter who the perpetrators are. No matter who the victims are. It’s simply intolerable and has no place on this campus,” UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said in a statement.