Inside Zellerbach Hall on Thursday night, conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro delivered his speech as planned to an engaged, respectful audience of about 600 to 700 people. Police were present inside the hall, but not highly visible, and no hecklers disrupted the hour-and-half-long event.

Outside, as many as 1,000 people were gathered — some protesters, others onlookers — and a group of up to 50 students occupied a breezeway at the ASUC Student Union, where they'd put up a sign, "Students Against Fascism and War," and interacted with the crowd. They exited the building calmly just before the Zellerbach event ended at 9 p.m.

"There's a sense of relief and satisfaction that the event was able to go forward without disruption, that those who chose to protest did so in largely nonviolent ways and that, overall, things went as well as could be expected," said UC Berkeley Assistant Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Dan Mogulof, at a media briefing later that night.

UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennett said the event was "orderly," attended by people who were "respectful and interested" in the speaker and that it concluded peacefully.

No arrests were made by campus police until around 9 p.m., when a woman not affiliated with the university climbed over a barricade on Upper Sproul Plaza. Earlier in the day, police had set up a closed perimeter around Zellerbach Hall and surrounding buildings, and the campus's César E. Chávez Student Center, Alumni House, Sproul Hall and the ASUC Student Union were closed.

Bennett said the City of Berkeley had made "four or five" arrests before the Shapiro event ended. While she would not say how many officers, some in riot gear, were on duty Thursday, she confirmed that UCPD had been aided by law enforcement from neighboring counties including Contra Costa, Solano and Monterey. "We reached far," she said.