On March 2nd, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was at the University of California in Berkley to bring together his most inspiring friends and colleagues from the worlds of music, design, film and tech to explore why many of the world's creative leaders and thinkers choose the Bay Area as their home. According to a report by The Daily Californian, the inaugural edition of this event, known as Front Row, was marred by violence.

Following is an excerpt from the report:

"A small student group that calls itself the Student Labor Committee, or SLC, decided to use physical violence to attempt to disrupt this event. Though quick and professional action by the police prevented worse from occurring, it was a sickening moment. More than just an attempt to exercise the heckler’s veto, this was a planned, violent, bullying act, with the express purpose of destroying a core activity of the campus.

Last week’s inaugural edition of Front Row was led by Lars Ulrich, Metallica’s drummer, who talked in a public forum with a group of brilliant and creative people, including electronic music and dance music artist Bassnectar; Salesforce.com founder and philanthropist Marc Benioff; bassist Les Claypool; actor, writer and Zen Buddhist priest Peter Coyote; and Lars Ulrich’s octogenarian father, Torben Ulrich. It was, by all accounts, a remarkable occasion, the type of only-at-UC-Berkeley event that defines our campus. Having heard that the SLC intended to disrupt the event, Lars Ulrich at the start of the evening offered the mic and the stage to anyone who wanted to address the audience. One person did so, and after that, the event went on as planned. Later in the evening, Benioff was Ulrich’s guest interviewee.

What happened next was not protest, it was violence dressed up as protest: Shortly into Ulrich’s and Benioff’s conversation, a mob of SLC-affiliated students started screaming and rushed the stage, with one managing to physically assault Benioff before being wrestled to the ground by police. It was a shocking, vicious spasm, which fortunately did not result in any injuries — after which the show went on (as it must)."

Go to this location for the complete report.

Video of  the disruption (clip #2) can be viewed below.