Protest at college turns violent
24 arrested during fights at speech by white supremacist
EAST LANSING, Mich. — As his supporters brawled with protesters outside, Richard Spencer stood inside a Michigan State University building, blaming the violence on his skin color.
“No other group is treated with this kind of hostility,” he said during a speech that started more than a half hour late because of the fights going on outside. “It is only us. Precisely because we’re white. We’re the only ones showing the real crisis in modern America today. There is a silent war going on.”
The war was in full evidence Monday afternoon. It started about a half hour before Spencer — a white supremacist and self-defined leader of the so-called alt-right movement — was supposed to speak.
Hundreds of protesters blocked a group of about 20 Spencer supporters trying to enter the venue. Fistfights broke out and police swarmed, trying to separate the two groups.
A total of 24 people were arrested from both groups and charged with a variety of misdemeanors and felonies, said police, who estimated there were 500 protesters. Some had weapons when they were arrested, police said.
Police repeatedly formed phalanxes around other people trying to enter the building. Protesters swarmed the police and some tried to break through to get at supporters.
Inside, Spencer said, “We are in a position that white identity and white consciousness is deemed illegal effectively, if not quite yet literally. This is the level of the demoralization of our people. Everything that is good in the world is effectively anti-white.”
“The meek shall never inherit the Earth.” Spencer said. “The strong and bold will always rule. We will have a say in the definition of this country and the future of the white race.”
Spencer is one of the most visible white nationalists in the U.S. In 2013, he called for a “peaceful ethnic cleansing” at a conference, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.