‘I’m sorry some people left before we found a new location,’ speaker tweeted
Protesters at the University of Albany repeatedly — but ultimately unsuccessfully — tried to shut down a conservative event that argued “free speech is being destroyed on college campuses.”
Their tactics included shouting profanities and attempting to disrupt the proceedings by forming a conga line, according to tweets posted by Ian Haworth, who was invited to campus Tuesday night by Turning Point USA.
The protesters “used the heckler’s veto to try to shut down the event,” Haworth tweeted.
“The most socialist thing I’ve ever seen is a bunch of deranged students screaming ‘no cops, no KKK, no @TPUSA’ at a Jewish immigrant while also happily shoveling free pizza down their throats paid for by…@TPUSA!” he continued.
Haworth, a columnist, speaker and podcast host, “spent almost four years working at Facebook, including on their ‘Misinformation’ team as part of the ‘Fact-Checking’ organization,” according to his Turning Point USA speaker bio.
🧵 Last night, I was at the University of Albany to speak with @TPUSA.
My argument: free speech is being destroyed on college campuses.
And like clockwork, some deranged protesters showed up and used the heckler's veto to try and shut down the event. pic.twitter.com/NZdUgh2emm
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) April 5, 2023
“Things started to get REAL weird when a conga line formed,” Haworth tweeted.
Things started to get REAL weird when a conga line formed.
Not one person seemed concerned that this is a traditional Cuban carnival dance, and is therefore an act of cultural appropriation.@TPUSA pic.twitter.com/REzH9clyq9
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) April 5, 2023
Video shows the protesters dancing in formation while shouting “Where is Ian?”
“I’m glad we were *finally* able to hold the event, with some great Q&A questions after the speech from the people who stayed on,” Haworth tweeted, concluding the thread.
“I’m sorry some people left before we found a new location, but I hope you can come to another event soon,” he tweeted. “Appreciate everyone who came in good faith.”
Haworth “then joined The Daily Wire to speak out against the growing anti-conservative nature of Big Tech, and to advocate in favor of fundamental American conservative principles from his perspective as an immigrant from the U.K.,” his bio stated.
The group Atheists for Liberty, which had some members present at the event, tweeted a statement critical of “woke religion.”
“We’re seeing Enlightenment values and our freedom of speech erode in the name of ‘diversity,'” the statement read. “Some of the most egregious religious practices are defended as long as the proper forms of political correctness are pushed onto innocent students and faculty.”
MORE: UC Hastings eliminates heckler’s veto in new free speech policy
IMAGE: Twitter/@ighaworth
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