Protesters banned from the University of Florida’s confirmation vote for Ben Sasse – video
Florida protesters, carrying signs, and shouting slogans including “We want justice and we want results,” were banned from the University of Florida’s college Republican party’s campus walkabout Wednesday morning — even as the college’s student government was scheduled to vote on the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Ben Sasse.
The university, the only public four-year institution with a large white-supremacist campus group, has a long — and fraught — history of protecting and even promoting white supremacist ideology.
Protesters were escorted from the campus by university students who were armed with pepper spray, a gun, a gas mask and a taser. The campus police, which included a heavy contingent of U.F.D. officers, made no arrests. The U.F.D. was not asked or required to remove the protesters from their designated protest area.
The walkabout attracted thousands of students, while hundreds of supporters gathered at the U.F.D.’s campus, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Watch more videos:
Video: Protestors banned from the University of Florida’s college Republican walkabout. “It is unbelievable that the University of Florida would want to prevent students from expressing their opinion with a political demonstration on their campus,” U.F.D. president David Dietzen said. “[Students] have every right to express their political views. The university is a public institution of higher education. We are a part of the greater American society.” | @WPLGLocal
Video: Protesters and supporters gathered in the street. “We support Ben Sasse,” said one, to a man holding a sign saying, “We will not be silenced.” “How long are we going to allow this kind of hatred to run rampant on our campus?” asked another. | @WPLGLocal
Video: A man shouted, “Death to the n*ggers” inside the walkabout area of the University of Florida. | @WPLGLocal
