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[webfact]

Protesters to white nationalist speaker at University of Florida: 'Go home Nazis'

By Zachary Fagenson

 

A man walks with a bloody lip as demonstrators yell at him outside the location where Richard Spencer, an avowed white nationalist and spokesperson for the so-called alt-right movement, is delivering a speech on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

 

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Reuters) - Protesters shouted "Go home Nazis" as a white nationalist gave a speech on Thursday at the University of Florida, where hundreds of police set up barricades and separated supporters and demonstrators to guard against violence.

 

Richard Spencer's event at the university in Gainesville, which prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency to prepare for possible conflict, came about two months after rallies by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to a deadly clash with counter-protesters.

 

The violence on Aug. 12 added fuel to a national debate on race, and Republican President Donald Trump came under fire for blaming both sides for the melee.

 

White supremacists have been working to bring Spencer to various public universities, saying he has a constitutional right to free speech. The effort has forced college leaders to allow what they see as hate speech on campus and provide security to prevent violent clashes.

 

On Thursday, several hundred protesters shouting: "We don't want your Nazi hate" marched outside a campus performing arts centre where Spencer spoke.

 

The protests were mostly peaceful but there were a few scuffles that left five people with minor injuries, the university said in a statement.

 

Two people were arrested, including a man hired as security for media for illegally carrying a firearm on campus, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office said. Another man wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with swastikas emerged from a crowd of protesters with a bloody lip.

 

Inside the venue, Spencer and protesters yelled at one another, and he criticized them for trying to suppress his speech.

 

"I’m not going home," said Spencer, who heads the National Policy Institute, a nationalist think tank, and promoted the Charlottesville rally. "We are stronger than you and you all know it!"

 

He appeared to have few supporters in the crowd. About 15 white men, all dressed in white shirts and khaki pants, raised their hands when Spencer asked who identified with the alt-right, a loose grouping characterized by a rejection of mainstream politics that includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.

 

Spencer left the campus soon after the event ended, university public safety officials said on Twitter. Police worked to separate those who attended the event as they left the venue from protesters gathered nearby.

 

One Spencer supporter appeared to have been sprayed in the face with an irritant. Police were not immediately available to speak about the incident.

 

'LOVE WINS'

 

Anais Edwards, 26, was inside the venue and supported those trying to disrupt Spencer.

 

"I’m really proud of how our community came together. Many of them were willing to stand up and not let him speak," Edwards said.

 

The university said it did not invite Spencer to speak but was obligated by law to allow the event. The school said it would spend more than $500,000 on security, and the National Policy Institute is paying more than $10,000 to rent the facility and for security within the venue.

 

"Despite our worst fears of violence, the University of Florida and the Gainesville community showed the world that love wins,” University of Florida President Kent Fuchs said in a statement after the event.

 

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors U.S. hate groups, said Spencer was "a radical white separatist whose goal is the establishment of a white ethno-state in North America."

 

An outspoken supporter of Trump during the 2016 campaign, Spencer rose from relative obscurity after widely circulated videos showed some Trump supporters giving Nazi-style salutes to Spencer during a gathering in Washington to celebrate the Republican candidate's win. Trump condemned the meeting.

 

The death in Charlottesville, home to the flagship campus of the University of Virginia, occurred as counter-protesters were dispersing. A 20-year-old man who is said by law enforcement to have harboured Nazi sympathies drove his car into the crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman.

 

(Reporting by Zachary Fagenson; Writing by Jon Herskovitz and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-10-20

[hdkane]

Good for Spencer...he deserves a platform. Free speech, even offensive free speech, needs to be defended. 

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, hdkane said:

Good for Spencer...he deserves a platform. Free speech, even offensive free speech, needs to be defended. 

 

Agree. Once you start suppressing free speech you're treading a very fine line towards one party ideology.

 

The way to deal with all extremists - Nazis, racists, homophobes, extreme left, religious bigots, is to let them speak. Most people will then see them for what they are.

 

It's an unfortunate trait of the left in particular to try and stifle opposition speech and then label any with a different view to theirs as extremist in an effort to gag them.

[rudi49jr]

57 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

It's an unfortunate trait of the left in particular to try and stifle opposition speech and then label any with a different view to theirs as extremist in an effort to gag them.

Yeah, it's always those pesky lefties who want to stifle free speech, right? Donald Trump must be a hard-core lefty then, seeing as how he wanted to revoke NBC's broadcasting license because they said something he didn't agree with.

[dunroaming]

Well it's OK to say "Go home Nazis" but unfortunately in the USA they are at home.  I agree these people should always be given a platform because they nearly always highlight what morons they actually are.

[Baerboxer]

57 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

Yeah, it's always those pesky lefties who want to stifle free speech, right? Donald Trump must be a hard-core lefty then, seeing as how he wanted to revoke NBC's broadcasting license because they said something he didn't agree with.

 

Do you understand what the words "in particular" mean in the context of the sentence they are included in?

 

Notice how the left in the US also tried to stop Trump speaking way before he was elected.

 

Extremists, right wing or left wing usually don't want any criticism or the real facts being revealed. But their aren't many right wing extremists in power or even in opposition compared to a more abundance of left wing ones. Madura and Mugabe, Kim, etc spring to mind. 

 

But even in local politics in the UK, the left wing parties have for many years tried to stifle free speech. Right wing parties don't get the chance because they don't get voted anywhere near office. 

[YetAnother]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Many of them were willing to stand up and not let him speak," Edwards said.

i see; might want to check the usa bill of rights on that one

[Guest Jerry787]

i really dont understand how such loser pricks of racist nazi are allowed to talk.

i understand majority of who voted last time in USA are racist or red necks beer belly and hate everyone because they cant hate themselves, indeed how  a university will allow to such cheap punk to speak ?

 

[Guest]

I consider submission to religious beliefs as mental illness and weakness of mind and I wish to be able to say it out loud. I sure hell support the free speech for these morons. Freedoms and responsibilities goes in both ways. 

 

I'm socialist liberal. Point being on the liberal.

 

 

 

[Myshkin]

No freedom for the enemies of freedom!

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Jerry787 said:

i really dont understand how such loser pricks of racist nazi are allowed to talk.

i understand majority of who voted last time in USA are racist or red necks beer belly and hate everyone because they cant hate themselves, indeed how  a university will allow to such cheap punk to speak ?

 

They would be sued otherwise. Constitutional freedom of speech including odious speech. 

 

I support that freedom for all Americans. 

Edited October 20, 2017 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

A little American Nazi humor. Nazi quality way, way down.

 

Quote

Five decades ago, we put a man on the moon. Now granted, we did that with the help of Wernher Von Braun, who was a Nazi. But that’s my point — even the quality of our Nazis has gone down. Our Nazis used to be rocket scientists. Now they’re marching morons with Tiki Torches! Our Nazis are a disgrace.

Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/385640/watch-andy-borowitz-take-down-nazis-in-45-seconds/