Protesters hurled smoke bombs, broke windows and sparked a massive bonfire Wednesday night, prompting University of California at Berkeley officials to cancel a talk by a polarizing editor of Breitbart News out of safety concerns.

The decision was made two hours before the appearance of Milo Yiannopoulos (yuh-NAH'-poh-lihs) because a crowd of more than 1,500 had gathered outside the venue, the university said in a statement.

But officials said it was a smaller group of protesters dressed in black and in hooded sweatshirts that showed up as night fell to break windows with metal barricades, throw smoke bombs and flares and start a large bonfire outside the building with a diesel generator.

"This was a group of agitators who were masked up, throwing rocks, commercial grade fireworks and Molotov cocktails at officers," said UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennet.

Bennet said police determined at that point they couldn't guarantee security, canceled the event and evacuated Yiannopoulos from the building.

There were no immediate reports of arrests or serious injuries, she said.

There were no immediate reports of arrests or serious injuries, she said.

The Associated Press

The Associated Press

The Associated Press

Prior to the burst of violence, hundreds of peaceful demonstrators carrying signs that read "Hate Speech Is Not Free Speech" had been protesting for hours.

As the evening wore on, crowds of protesters cleared away from outside the building. By 8 p.m. the crowd had thinned and at least 100 protesters that remained danced to a brass band playing music and marched off campus and into a main avenue.

Yiannopoulos, a 32-year-old right-wing provocateur, is a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and a self-proclaimed internet troll whose comments have been criticized as racist, misogynist, anti-Muslim and white supremacist. He was banned from Twitter after leading a harassment campaign against "Ghostbusters" actress Leslie Jones.

His visit to Berkeley was sponsored by the campus Republican club. The university has stressed it did not invite him and does not endorse his ideas but is committed to free speech and rejected calls to cancel the event.

"The event has been cancelled," Yiannopoulos posted on his Facebook page. "I'll let you know more when the facts become clear. One thing we do know for sure: the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down."

The Berkeley College Republicans said its "constitutional right to free speech was silenced by criminals and thugs."

"Their success is a defeat for civilized society and the free exchange of ideas on college campuses across America," it said in a statement.

The university, which had requested assistance from police in nine UC campuses, sent a notice to all students earlier Wednesday that warned of crowds near the student union, where the 500-seat, sold-out event was scheduled.

Yiannopoulos' talks have sparked protests, shouting matches and occasional violence at stops around the country. A man was shot and wounded at protests outside his Jan. 21 talk at the University of Washington.

Rowdy protests at UC Davis Jan. 13 prompted campus Republicans to cancel his appearance at the last minute. His final stop was supposed to be UCLA on Thursday but the invitation was rescinded, making Berkeley his grand finale.

(abcNEWS)

The massive Kilauea flow has been coming from a lava tube at the Kamokuna ocean entry on the south-east side of the Big Island.

The lava is gushing from a tube that was exposed when a huge, 10.5-hectare lava delta collapsed into the ocean at the site on New Year's Eve.

Massive explosions and giant waves were triggered in the area by the collapse of the newly-formed land.

Dubbed a "firehose", the lava stream flows because it shoots lava outward from the source.

It started out as a drizzle coming down the sea cliffs after the New Year collapse, but has recently increased in intensity.

The molten lava is now arching out and falling about 70 feet to the ocean below.

Onlookers 'taking lives into own hands'

PHOTO: The massive Kilauea flow is coming from a lava tube at the Kamokuna ocean entry. (AP: Shane Turpin/Lava Ocean Tours)

When the molten lava hits the cool seawater, it reacts, causing explosions that can throw large chunks of hot rock and debris inland, where people hike in to see the lava, and seaward, where tour boats cruise the shoreline.

Lava bench collapses can happen at any time without warning and if someone was on the edge during a collapse "it would likely be a fatality," said Cindy Orlando, superintendent of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Despite signs and roped-off areas, people still cross the boundaries and go to the edge of the cliffs near the lava flow, Ms Orlando said.

Park rangers have recently issued citations to people who cross into prohibited areas, but Ms Orlando said it was nearly impossible to prevent everyone from breaking the rules.

Scientists fear explosions if 'hot crack' triggers collapse

One of the biggest concerns is a large "hot crack" in the rock above the firehose flow, USGS geologist Janet Babb said.

The crack runs parallel to the sea cliff and makes the surrounding land susceptible to collapse.

When the large delta collapsed on December 31, it sent hot rocks and lava spatter flying into the air and giant waves outward.

"The seaward side of that crack could fall away," said Ms Babb, who works at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.

"That is of great concern because if it does, it's going to drop a lot of hot rock into the water and hot rock mixing with cool seawater makes for explosive interactions."

The steam plume created by the lava reaching the water is also a concern.

"It's super-heated steam laced with hydrochloric acid from the interaction with the seawater and has shards of volcanic glass," Ms Babb said.

"It's something to be avoided."

Ms Babb said the firehose event is unusual because it has lasted so long. Usually when a flow opens up like this, the lava quickly builds new land below and plugs the entry.

"In this case, there's no evidence of a new delta is forming, which leads us to believe that the offshore topography there is very steep," she said.

Kilauea has been erupting continuously since 1983, and the most recent vent flow reaching the ocean has been ongoing for months.

"There's no indication of it slowing down or stopping," Ms Babb said.

AP

Police in the Philippines planned and carried out extrajudicial executions in the country’s controversial war against drugs, Amnesty International alleged in a report released Tuesday.

Philippine authorities began what President Rodrigo Duterte described as a war on illegal drug trafficking following his election last year. He has compared his intention to “slaughter” drug addicts to Adolf Hitler’s intentions and actions against Europe’s Jews in the Holocaust. More than 7,000 people have been killed in the Philippines since the president’s arrival to power in July.

A new report by the Amnesty rights group based on data from November and December 2016 alleges that raids during drugs investigations resulted in “widespread killings, which appear to be systematic, planned and organized by the authorities.”

The report alleges a pattern in police activity under Duterte, in which police use often lethal force, killing suspected drug offenders, then planting evidence and falsifying reports to "cover their tracks."

"Police officers routinely bust down doors in the middle of the night and then kill in cold blood unarmed people suspected of using or selling drugs,” the report read. "In several cases documented by Amnesty International, witnesses described alleged drug offenders yelling they would surrender, at times while on their knees or in another compliant position. They were still gunned down."

Duterte announced earlier in January that he would consider declaring martial law to combat the drugs industry, tightening control over the population. Amnesty warned that punishments for those enforcing the law violently, be they police or vigilantes, are already rare.

“The total lack of accountability to date has sent a clear message of official support for extrajudicial executions,” the report concluded.

(Newsweek)