Protests and fights at the University of California, Davis shut down a Milo Yiannopulos event there on Friday.
University of California, Davis cancels event featuring Milo Yiannopoulos and Martin Shkreli after protests, fights pic.twitter.com/xbsYsbRn2n
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 14, 2017
Yiannopoulos, an editor at Breitbart News, was set to speak at the sold out event as part of his “Dangerous Faggot Tour.” The openly gay conservative provocateur was invited to speak at UC-Davis by the school’s College Republicans. Martin Shkreli, the controversial entrepreneur, was also scheduled to appear.
Campus leftists had called on UC-Davis administrators to cancel the event. Yiannopoulos is hated by many on the Left who believe that he is racist and sexist.
But school administrators said earlier in the day on Friday that they would not cancel Yiannopoulos’ appearance.
“We affirm the right of our students — in this instance, the Davis College Republicans — to invite speakers to our campus,” Ralph Hexter, the school’s interim chancellor, said in a statement.
“Any public university must do everything it can to make sure that all members of its community are free to express their views—both because free expression is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution and enshrined in University of California policy, and because it is an essential ingredient of excellence in higher-education teaching and research.”
Frances Wang, an ABC News reporter, captured footage of the protests.
Protests at @ucdavis. Warning: inappropriate language. @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/63sebutPhA
— Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017
#BREAKING 2 ppl who looked like officials came out & said Event is cancelled. Many protestors don’t believe it. still here. @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/bz7ZLeBz0D
— Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017