By: Savin Mattozzi ~Staff Writer~

Clashes broke out in Berkley, Calif., on Saturday when pro- Trump and anti-Trump protestors crossed a police line and attacked each other.

According to authorities, 11 were injured, and seven had to be transported to area hospitals. An additional 21 were arrested, some on weapons charges. In a video posted by Reuters, people could be seen using flagpoles and brass knuckles to attack one another.

“It’s the same nonsense, just a new day,” James Hogan, a senior Philosophy, Politics and the Public major, said. “The tension is higher than it has been, probably in our lifetime.”

These kinds of clashes are not a rare sight in Berkley or in other Northern California cities. On June 26, fights broke out between White nationalists and anti-fascist protesters in Sacramento. At least seven people were stabbed, and at least nine others sustained other, less severe injuries.

University of California, Berkley, had its own protests when Milo Yiannopoulos, a far-right media personality, was scheduled to give a talk. Students broke windows and set a fire in the middle of campus. The speech was later cancelled as a result of the protests.

Hogan believes most of the tension arises from a lack of dialogue.

“Just talk to each other,” Hogan said. “One of the reasons I think that things are becoming more polarized is because it’s so easy to only talk to people that you agree with. Whether you’re on the right or the left, it’s so easy to get on social media and only be friends with people that are other Republicans or other Democrats or follow people from one side or only get your news from one side, and then as soon as you see something that isn’t that, we’re not sure how to react to it. You just gotta sit down with someone you don’t agree with and have a chat. You don’t have to agree with them at the end of it, you don’t have to come to a consensus, but you have to at least try to understand.”

Senior biology major Tamara Mahmoud, however, emphasizes the need for authentic conversations.

“Yeah, we could talk, but talking isn’t going to do anything unless you are open-minded about the situation,” Mahmoud said.