NEW YORK — Fights broke out Thursday night at a protest at New York University amid an appearance by a conservative speaker, who school officials said was hit by pepper spray.
Gavin McInnes was invited to speak on campus by the NYU College Republicans. McInnes is an actor, comedian and co-founder of Vice Media.
His appearance sparked a protest by another group called the NYU Anti-Fascists, who said that McInnes has a track record “of using incendiary language.”
Day after #UCBerkeley, chaos erupts at NYU as protesters disrupt conservative speaker, clash with police https://t.co/mTmPKYRD9c pic.twitter.com/zjCz0GqthM
— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) February 3, 2017
WNBC-TV reports that when McInnes arrived, chaos erupted.
NYU spokesman John Beckman said fights broke out and McInnes was hit with pepper spray. Beckman said McInnes tried to continue with the event, but stopped when protesters rushed into the room.
Police arrested a number of people. It’s unclear exactly how many.
11 Arrests:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/protests-erupt-nyu-amid-event-conservative-speaker-45237657
http://nypost.com/2017/02/02/protesters-storm-nyu-over-conservative-speakers-seminar/
“Eight men and three women were arrested on charges including criminal mischief, drug possession, disorderly conduct and obstructing government administration, cops said.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/11-arrested-nyu-protest-right-wing-vice-media-co-founder-article-1.2963179