Protestors stormed the campus of New York University in opposition of a conservative guest speaker Thursday night. The speech by Gavin McInnes, which was recorded by a student with the NYU independent news source’s Periscope account, NYU Local, showed the address to the NYU Republican student body at the Kimmel Center was interrupted by students’ Anti-Fascist group about eight minutes into his appearance.
Eleven people were later arrested for misconduct, CBS News reported. During the demonstration, angry protestor sprayed McInnes with pepper spray.
The 22-minute Periscope broadcast showed the Anti-Fascist group screaming at the conservative event’s attendees. The group organized the protest on Facebook after discovering the Republican group’s event. The event description, which has since been taken down, encouraged students to join them to “let NYU know that we will not stand for bigotry, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny on our campus,” the NYU Local reported.
“No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA!” the crowd chanted.
“This is what democracy looks like!” they added.
McInnes, co-founder of Vice Media, comedian and leader of the conservative group “Proud Boys,” was invited to speak by the NYU Republicans, according to the NYU Local. McInnes has had a reputation among feminist organizations and the LGBTQ community over his controversial statements written in an article he published on Thought Catalog in 2014 titled Transphobia is Perfectly Normal. He received backlash for his views on transgerism, which he called a mental illness. He also wrote that changing from one gender to another is in fact “sexist, misandrist, homophobic, and further damages the lives of the mentally ill.” After the article was heavily criticized and reported for violating guidelines by the Thought Catalog community, McInnes went on to create his own podcast called “Free Speech with Gavin McInnes.”
The decision to invite McInnes was based on how “he brings up interesting conversation topics, especially for NYU and the current campus culture,” NYU College Republican President Elena Hatib explained to NBC New York despite not personally agreeing with everything he has said.
“I’m disappointed that many students on this campus are so disrespectful when it comes to hearing opposing speakers,” the NYU Republicans said in a statement. “The purpose of this event was to promote free speech and NOT to promote certain ideas.”
The protest came one day after the University of California Berkeley’s violent protest against invited speaker Breitbart News editor and conservative journalist Milo Yiannopoulus. The event was canceled due to turmoil that erupted across the college town.
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