An anti-fascist group are planning a “peaceful” protest at MILO’s speaking event at the Colorado Springs campus of the University of Colorado this Thursday in a self-declared “free speech zone,” combined with pressuring the university administration to shut the event down.
In a post on the Facebook event, “Shut down Milo Yiannopoulos – CO Springs,” the group lays out their plan of action, encouraging people to “bring banners and make sure to bring your voices.” The group ironically plans to demonstrate in a “free speech zone” set up by the university itself “for about an hour, showing everyone that walks by, and those headed to see Milo speak, that Milo is not welcome in Colorado Springs. At approximately 5:15, once Milo has started to speak, we will march from the free speech zone to the upper lodge, where we will continue to demonstrate outside of his speech.”
The group insists that their protest will remain “peaceful.” Previous MILO events have seen huge amounts of leftist violence, with the talk at UC Davis cancelled after barricades were torn down, whilst at the University of Washington, one man was shot by another who claimed that he thought he was a “white supremacist.” At the same event, MILO’s cameraman was assaulted and had his camera and equipment smashed, with a high school student seen bleeding and covered in paint, having allegedly been attacked by other protesters.
Ironically, the antifascist group are using these acts of violence by leftists to claim that MILO’s events at both UCCS and CU Boulder must be shut down “out of concern for community safety.” In another post to the aforementioned event, the group claims that the respective chancellors would “love to have a solid legal basis for cancelling Milo’s event,” despite Chancellor DiStefano of CU Boulder telling Breitbart News that their administration will not shut MILO down.
Many will be watching to see if the promise of peace will be kept.
Jack Hadfield is a student at the University of Warwick and a regular contributor to Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @ToryBastard_, on Gab @JH or email him at jack@yiannopoulos.net.