The NYPD was out in full force at NYU on Thursday night as protesters gathered to voice their disgust with conservative actor and Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, who was inside holding a seminar for the school’s College Republicans.
“Just saw 4 vans of cops unload outside of the NYU Anti-Fa protest of Gavin McInnes’ talk,” Jason Miller tweeted at around 7 p.m. Thursday.
“They are threatening to arrest everyone in the herd now, each cop with roughly 8-10 zip ties in tow,” he said.
NYU Local, the university’s independent news source, also took to Twitter to alert the public of the situation taking place outside the Kimmel, Rosenthal Pavilion on Thursday night.
“Arrests happening outside of Kimmel,” they tweeted.
Eleven people were arrested.
McInnes, who left Vice in 2008, had been scheduled to talk to the NYU College Republicans at 7 p.m., and was later spotted on Periscope live video speaking at the podium and shouting at protesters, who managed to make it inside the venue.
“Whose campus? Our campus!” demonstrators yelled as McInnes attempted to speak.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” the crowd added.
“Why are you repeating the same nonsense over and over?” McInnes asked at one point, before riling up the protesters even more.
After a few more minutes of back-and-forth, the controversial comedian appeared to end his speech early — telling an NYU spokesperson, “You’re a dumb liberal asshole” and “You think these are rational beings” — before storming away, NYU Local reports.
“Gavin has left the podium, doesn’t intend to come back,” the news source tweeted. “Leaves with aforementioned scathing remark to University spokesman.”
McInnes almost didn’t even make it inside on Thursday night, on account of the “antifa” protesters rushing him at the entrance, according to Gizmodo reporter Anna Merlan.
“Cops shoved them back, took a guy to the ground,” she tweeted. “Guy in a MAGA hat threw a punch.”
As McInnes entered, the unruly crowd chanted things like, “Nazi scum, your time has come,” while also lighting “Make America Great Again” hats on fire.
“Looked like someone might’ve been trying to spray something at McInnes? Hopefully Nair,” Merlan tweeted, adding that at least one pro-Trump spectator was also busted.
“Cops arresting a MAGA fan who just assaulted a reporter. NYPD didn’t seem to see but the rest of us did,” she said.
The protest was apparently organized on Facebook, under the name “Disrupt Gavin McInnes at NYU.”
“Come to Kimmel, Rosenthal Pavilion to let NYU know that we will not stand for bigotry, racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny on our campus,” the event page reads. “Gavin McInnes has a long track record of using incendiary language to attract media attention and frenzy … Most recently, in December 2016, Gavin McInnes launched an informal group called the Proud Boys, an ‘anti racial guilt,’ anti-feminist organization. When NYC Antifa began to share information about members of the group with their employers (in many cases leading to job loss), McInnes urged the Proud Boys to attend an Antifa concert and ‘wreck the s–t’ of the ‘f–gots.'”
In response to the demonstration, the College Republicans put out a statement Thursday night, saying it was “a shame” that the protesters “couldn’t be respectful” of McInnes.
“I’m disappointed that many students on this campus are so disrespectful when it comes to hearing opposing speakers,” a spokesperson told NYU Local. “Our intention was not to advocate for McInnes’s views, in fact many of us differ with him when it comes to certain ideas. The purpose of this event was to promote free speech and NOT to promote certain ideas.
“There’s a strong idea on this campus that the slightest opposing views are completely unwelcomed,” they added. “We understand that his presence was controversial but we didn’t expect these outburst [sic] from this institution. We hope that in the future, NYU students will be more open to hearing ideas that are different from their own.”