Violent Protesters Disrupt Shapiro's Speech, Trap Crowd Inside

Nick Kangadis | February 25, 2016
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(Image: Facebook/Screenshot)

Update (YAF Statement 6:28 PM 2/25): "Right now, YAF students and staff are essentially being held hostage in the lecture hall where Ben Shapiro just spoke at CSULA by protesters who are blocking the exits. Police have told us they can no longer guarantee anyone's safety."

Original Story: Thursday afternoon speaker/columnist/editor Ben Shapiro spoke to a growing crowd organized by the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) group at California State at Los Angeles after CSULA President, leftist ideologue William Covino, canceled the event.

Shapiro said that he was going to go ahead with the event despite the cancelation, and YAF stated that the university can “use its security force to force conservatives to shut up if they feel so threatened by the free exchange of ideas.”

Of course, CSULA officials said that they reversed the decision of the cancelation an hour before the event was scheduled, but did not give a reason why.

In a press release, YAF indicated that there were Black Lives Matter protesters outside the event protesting Shapiro’s speech on diversity.

Reporter Adelle Nazarian of Breitbart News was outside Periscoping the scene before the event began, where she encountered student protesters that began to berate, physically intimidate and shove the female reporter. Both a female and a male protester put their hands on Nazarian and tried to get her to stop filming them.

Click on the link in the Tweet to see the confrontation between Nazarian and the protesters:

 

At the beginning of the speech, Shapiro explained that the reason the room was somewhat empty at the beginning of the event was because attendees had to sneak in "through the back door."

Shapiro stated, “No one won anything when there’s a group of folks outside who can’t get in, because there’s a bunch of totalitarian, authoritarian racists who won’t let anyone in who disagrees with their points of view.”

At one point, the “Fascist” protesters (as Shapiro put it) pulled the fire alarm to try and stop the event. In response to the cowardly act, Shapiro said, “And there it is, gang. Guess what? You know what? They’re not going to stop us.”

The fire alarm was eventually shut off, and Shapiro finished the rest of his speech unscathed. He also took questions from students after the speech concluded.

The video below shows Shapiro describing the disruption outside and promising to continue his speech after the fire alarm is set off.

 

To watch the full speech, view below:

 

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