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Disruptive Protester Shuts Down College Republicans Event — Campus Police Watch In Silence

PSU Bell Protester

Screenshot from Andy Ngo Youtube Channel

Matt M. Miller Contributor
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A protester obstructed a College Republicans event at Portland State College by ringing a bell loudly and standing in front of the projector displaying a presentation for the event.

Campus police were present and witnessed the disruption but did nothing to stop the protester’s behavior, so the event could proceed.

The event featured conservative blogger Michael Strickland, who was scheduled to speak about his conviction for unholstering his gun at a Black Lives Matter protest, where he was surrounded and threatened by protesters. James O’Keefe explained the context of the incident in a Project Veritas video in 2016:

Journalist Andy Ngo, who is an editor at Quillette, attended the Portland State College Republicans event, catching the disruption on video and tweeting it out in several clips.

Ngo tweeted, “Last night, College Republicans invited conservative blogger Michael Strickland to @Portland_State. Event got shut down by anarchist who came w/a bell. Strickland was to speak about his conviction related to him brandishing a gun at a mob who surrounded him at a 2016 BLM protest.” (RELATED: Mob Outside Tucker’s Home Has A History Of Harassment And Violence)

He describes how campus police and administration were present at the event but did nothing to end the protest that he says lasted over an hour in total. Ngo says the administration claimed that they could do nothing to stop the protester.

Strickland attempted to push through the interruption and live-stream what was happening, but the protester approached him and continued ringing the bell directly behind him as he was trying to speak.

Ngo reports that, following the incident, Black Lives Matter posters were put all over campus. He also wrote that he personally witnessed the 2016 incident where Strickland drew his weapon on BLM protesters, saying that while he would not have brought a weapon to a heated political scene, he believes the extent of Strickland’s conviction was “excessive” and did not fit the crime. (RELATED: AU Students Plan Protests And Safe Space For Daily Caller Editor’s Speech)

The Daily Caller reached out to Portland State University for a comment on the incident. They responded with a statement saying that a police presence at the event was considered necessary because of “the nature of the event advocating gun rights.” The statement continues to explain that the lack of action from police was justified because the officer determined that the protester was creating “a potentially unsafe situation.” The statement read:

Portland State University has guidelines for events at Smith Memorial Student Union. The event this week was sponsored by the college Republicans, a recognized student organization at PSU. Due to the nature of the event advocating gun rights, a Campus Public Safety officer monitored the event to ensure the safety of participants. When an individual disrupted the event by ringing a cowbell, the officer used his professional judgment and determined not to threaten or restrain the individual so as not to escalate a potentially unsafe situation. After the disruption, the meeting continued, and PSU facilities management allowed college Republicans to extend their meeting beyond the scheduled end time that night because of the disruption delay.