A Michigan Republican Party official has resigned his position less than a week after he called for “another Kent State” after protests at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dan Adamini’s comment was a reference to the 1970 incident in which members of the Ohio National Guard shot at student protesters, killing four and wounding nine.

He resigned as the secretary of the Marquette County Republican Party on Wednesday, after he faced widespread backlash over his comment.

“I have always been intent on being helpful to anyone I associate with, and at the moment, all the hatred and anger and threats are being directed not only to me, but to other members of the party,” Adamini told the Marquette Mining Journal. “It’s made it impossible for me to be helpful. The desire to not be a distraction and a hindrance to the work of the party is what prompted me to do this.”

Adamini posted the remark to social media after around 1,500 people turned out to protest an appearance by Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos at Berkeley. Some of the protesters turned violent and the appearance was cancelled.

“I’m thinking another Kent State might be the only solution protest stopped after only one death,” Adamini wrote on Facebook. “They do it because they know there are no consequences yet.”

He also tweeted: “Violent protesters who shut down free speech? Time for another Kent State perhaps. One bullet stops a lot of thuggery.”