A UC Berkeley student was arrested in connection with one in a series of vandalism incidents targeting signs posted around campus by the Berkeley College Republicans group, officials said Thursday.

The student, who police did not name, was cited Wednesday on misdemeanor vandaliam charges and released around 4 p.m. He and another suspect, who police were searching for Thursday, crushed and ripped apart a Trump yard sign on campus, said Officer Sabrina Reich, a spokeswoman for the university police.

The student who was arrested posted a statement on Facebook to his friends, writing, “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.”

Naweed Tahmas, a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student and member of the Berkeley College Republicans, said he contacted police when two men started kicking the Trump sign and attempted to ram into him with their bike when he tried to snap a photo of them.

While tensions have spiked on campus since the election of President Trump, Tahmas said the vandalism and negative attention encourages him to be more vocal.

“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 vandalism incident comes a day after members of the Berkeley College Republicans posted a video on Facebook that shows someone kicking apart their wooden sign and trashing them on campus.

The wooden sign reading “Berkeley College Republicans” were broken apart by a man who then trashed it in recycling bins.

No arrests have been made in the incident, though Reich said detectives on the case have a lead.

“It makes me feel awful inside because these people are labeling us and all they care about is the labels,” said Tom Johnston, a 19-year-old freshman at UC Berkeley, who’s a member of the group and recorded the video of the vandalism.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani