Click here for an earlier story on the arrest.

OAKLAND —- A former Diablo Valley College professor accused of assaulting several people with a heavy bike lock at a pro-Trump rally last month in Berkeley pleaded not guilty Friday afternoon to felony charges.

Related Articles Bay Area college professor used U-shaped bike lock in beating, police say

Furor over alleged anti-Trump bike-lock attacker goes viral Eric Clanton, 28, was charged with four counts of felony assault with enhancements alleging that he caused great bodily injury. He also was charged with wearing a mask during commission of a crime, a misdemeanor.

Clanton has been in jail in lieu of $200,000 bail since his arrest Wednesday in connection with the April incident, which occurred during protests at Civic Center Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

During Clanton’s arraignment at Oakland’s Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse, the courtroom was crowded with media and protesters. At the start, Judge Thomas Nixon announced that the court had learned someone was live-streaming the proceedings over the internet. Nixon warned the courtroom would be cleared if he could confirm that.

Clanton’s attorney, Dan Siegel, told the judge he was being followed, and that he and his client had received threats.

In a statement Thursday, police acknowledged that a video of the incident, shot by onlookers and posted on social media, helped them identify Clanton as the suspect behind “several violent assaults” during the April 15 demonstration at Civic Center Park.

Police confirmed Clanton can be seen in videos hitting people in the head with a U-shaped bicycle lock; three of them sustained “significant injuries,” police said.

Homicide detectives handled the investigation because of the seriousness of the assaults, police said. Clanton was taken into custody without incident Wednesday at an unspecified Oakland location; investigators also had a warrant for an unspecified San Leandro address. During a search at the Oakland address, detectives recovered evidence associating Clanton with anti-Fascist and anarchist political groups.

Clanton was arrested in January 2014 during a protest on Highway 24 in Oakland, according to court documents.

A former DVC staff directory on its web page said Clanton has worked at the school since 2015, teaching an “introduction to philosophy with a background in teaching ethics, critical thinking and comparative philosophy East/West” with “primary research interests” of ethics and politics. Although he taught part time at DVC in the past, he was not employed there this semester, DVC officials said.

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