Milo Yiannopoulos speaking event is cancelled due to aggressive protesters, rally occurs the next day
The Friday night event was originally organized to raise funds for the U.C. Davis Student Union, where professional provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and America’s favorite villain Martin Shkreli were planning to speak at a sold out paid event
January 18, 2017
On the night of January 13, multiple eyewitnesses reported dozens of violent protesters throwing human urine and feces in paper cups directly at a police line and at Yiannopoulos supporters waiting to enter a sold out U.C. Davis event.
James McCallahan, a Davis student who tried attending the Friday night speech, explained, “protesters were throwing urine and feces in cups at Milo fans and police while waiting outside. Police attempted to arrest and identify the protesters, however many of them were wearing masks, making it almost impossible to ensure the safety of students and guest speakers.”
Public Relationships representative Andy Fell said, to his knowledge, no windows were broken or urine and feces were thrown.
The Friday night event was originally organized to raise funds for the U.C. Davis Student Union, where professional provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and America’s favorite villain Martin Shkreli were planning to speak at a sold out paid event.
Due to hundreds of forceful protesters surrounding the entrance to the event, yelling “fascists – kill the police – white supremacist,” and after smashing multiple windows, the college’s administration and police department both decided to close down the event prior to Milo’s speech due to “security concerns.”
Security concerns did not stop Shkreli from joining his fans and enemies in the hostile crowd Friday night, as he signed multiple autographs while being pushed and shoved by hundreds of people.
Both Shkreli and Yiannopoulos share a common theme or goal of being the most provocative figure they can possibly be in order to bring awareness to issues which normally are not discussed or contemplated often. Yiannopoulos puts a face to a homosexual Jewish Republican and Shkreli is a figure to pharmaceutical companies raising the price of drugs.
Kurt Mathews, retired Army veteran and Davis resident, described Yiannopoulos as someone who is “on point with his message- when he stays on-topic. He is a very smart man who knows exactly what to say during a debate. I wanted to show these kids that they are not alone. Their ideas are not foreign or wrong.”
Andrew Mendoza, the Republican Club Executive Director and his team quickly decided to organize a “free speech protest” in retaliation of the cancellation of the event. The protest took place the following afternoon, with guest speaker Yiannopoulos.
“It’s a travesty the nation saw this display of hostility,” Mendoza explained. “We have been notified that protesters were bused in from all over California. The university refused to grant us with electricity, we were forced to buy megaphones, refused to grant parking permits for his bus, and no police escort. Thankfully, we received many calls this morning from all over the country showing us their support.”
Yiannopoulos began the Saturday protest by stating, “the university is trying to claim that last night didn’t happen because the college Republicans canceled it. That’s a lie. And the reason they are trying to claim that is because they are in really big s— if they don’t do everything possible to ensure that everyone can express themselves how they like. Well, that is exactly what happened last night.”
In the middle of Yiannopoulos’ speech, a protester tried to disrupt the event by claiming that they are the one’s restricting free speech. Andy Knox, 15 from Davis, decided to debate this college student off to the side.
Wearing the famous Trump red-trucker hat, Knox explained later on “I’m not a fan of Milo particularly, but I wanted to support his freedom of speech. It’s been a really fun event so far and I enjoy meeting other conservatives.”
Yiannopoulos went on to say, “The College Republican Club were told by police that they would be responsible for property damage done by protesters. They would personally be responsible for the actions of the protesters. For this sort of environment that universities like [U.C. Davis] have encouraged and even in some cases paid for, when they pander to the social justice instinct. The equality and diversity offices that are really just there to beat up on straight white males.”
In early February, Yiannopoulos and his tour are arriving at U.C. Berkeley where his supporters and protesters are bound to collide once again.
In regards to his remarks describing why free speech is restricted on California’s campuses, Yiannpoulos stated, “The awful, kind of, pandering that happens to Black Lives Matter and feminist groups no matter how hateful and divisive they are… No matter how much they want to restrict free speech, free expression, and free ideas of others. Well this is a university, this is a place where you’re suppose to be able to hear anyone. I don’t have opinions that are particularly outrageous, except for saying them in outrageous ways of course. I would never claim otherwise.”
Editor’s Note: The controversial statements and opinions made by Milo Yiannopoulos, Martin Shkreli and others are their own and do not reflect the editor’s, author or paper’s opinion.
A previous version stated, without campus police confirmation, urine and feces were thrown and windows were smashed during the protest.