At least 11 people were arrested after a chaotic protest at New York University Thursday night saw the conservative speaker and Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes hit with pepper spray.
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The raucous crowd appeared outside NYU's Kimmel, Rosenthal Pavilion in New York City, protesting McInnes' planned speech at a seminar for college Republicans.
WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
The McInnes protest came one day after UC Berkeley erupted over Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos’ planned speech. Rioters were seen lighting fires, pepper-spraying a Trump supporter and vandalizing buildings.
Arrests happening outside of Kimmel. pic.twitter.com/57vSCYp86l
— NYU Local (@NYULocal) February 3, 2017
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Tweets from NYU’s independent news source showed lines of cops outside the building. One tweeter at the scene of the protests said each police officer was carrying eight to 10 zip ties, according to the New York Post.
Live video from inside the event showed McInnes speaking to the crowd and shouting at protesters who managed to sneak into the seminar. A frustrated McInnes cut off his speech early after having a few choice words with some protesters who yelled things like “Shame!” and “Whose campus? Our campus!” at him.
McInnes barely made it into the NYU building, Gizmodo reported. He was met with several protesters rushing him and unruly chants. He did not appear to be badly hurt by the pepper spray.
The Post also reported that some people set “Make America Great Again” hats on fire.
Charges ranged from disorderly conduct to criminal mischief, resisting arrest and drug possession, police said.
The protests apparently were coordinated through 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 read. “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*ggots.'”
The College Republicans said in a statement they were disappointed in the protests, calling it a “shame” that the protesters couldn’t “be respectful of McInnes.”
Fox News' Julie Banderas and Kathleen Foster in New York City and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
