Over 500 students massed together in unison shouting, “Good Night Alt Right!!” as Milo Yiannopoilos supporters waited in lines to get into the student union building at the University of New Mexico. The reason for this outburst of disgust was Alt Right speaker Yiannopoilos, whose legacy of hate has been heard across the country. At the University of Washington, where an IWW union protester was shot by a Yiannopoilos supporter during a protest, Yiannopoulos was successfully evicted from speaking at the campus. Students and their communities have been taking a stand against fascism and organizing to fight this rise of hate. With chants like: “Alt right, that’s a lie, you’re a nazi in disguise! Alt right, you can’t hide! You’re a nazi in disguise!” The working-class community and students joined together to raise their voices loud and clear.
The evening started out with around 100 students gathered on the lawn in front of the east side of the student union chanting as passing students joined the resistance. The numbers swelled as the evening heated up. Protesters came from different student-led groups as well as people from the community who heard about the protest via social media. As the night continued, the police presence began to grow as students tried to go inside to disrupt and shut down the fascist speaker. With entrances blocked by students preventing right-wing Yiannopoilos fans from getting in, police had no choice but to refuse entrance to everyone. By this time, over 500 people had shown up and in unison demanded that the event be shut down.
As darkness set in, riot police moved to suppress the students. In the following hours, police grabbed five protesters out of the crowd and arrested them. Outrageously some face felony charges of battery against an officer. Brittney Arneson was one of people grabbed by police. Other attempts were made but they were met with resistance by students calling out the attempts and pulling back those being snatched. The police deployed smoke and tear gas to disperse the protesters but with little effect.
With the event coming to a close, riot police advanced, pushing protesters back towards the exit chosen by security. The remaining students continued to chant, loudly denouncing the violent tactics of the police until the police pushed them away from the groups leaving the fascist conference. Following one final push by riot police, protesters moved through a pathway around the building to the rear entrance of the student union for one last act of resistance against the oppressive police. With the event sparking a revolutionary interest in students against fascism and hate, UNM now knows that it will meet resistance from its students, who will not let fascists build a movement on their campus.
The Party For Socialism and Liberation condemns the police for their violent actions against protesters, and the University of New Mexico for their sanctioning of a racist, bigoted speaker on campus. We demand that all charges be dropped against the protesters and that the police be indicted for their role in brutalizing protesters.
