Former Colorado congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo (center) grabs a banner protesters brought as he started to speak at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill about opposing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Protesters stopped the speech and Tancredo left the event before finishing. (Image: Americans for Legal Immigration PAC / April 14, 2009)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -
Violence forced Former Colorado congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo to shut down his speaking event at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. University police used pepper spray on student protesters upset that former Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo was speaking at the school Tuesday night.
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Bingham Hall on the school's campus, and started shouting profanities at the republican from Colorado who tried to speak about his opposition to in-state tuition for unauthorized immigrants.
Tancredo stopped speaking and left the event after a protester broke a window. He had been invited by a student group that opposes mass immigration and multiculturalism.
You can watch the whole thing unfold in the video below. WARNING: some of the language in the video might be offensive to some viewers.
University of North Carolina Police spokesman Randy Young said the use of pepper spray was being investigated by the department Wednesday.
Tancredo said after leaving that he had never been silenced by protesters. "The multi-culturalist radicals on America's campuses have declared open warfare on free speech, and for the most part, they are getting away with it," Tancredo said in an interview following the event. "There is no freedom of speech on hundreds of university campuses today for people who dare to dissent from the radical political agenda of the socialist left and the open borders agitators."
Two women were ejected after delaying his speech when they spread a 12-foot banner across the front of the classroom that read "No dialogue with hate."
University Chancellor Holden Thorp issued a statement that he was sorry Tancredo wasn't able to speak.
Watch raw video of the protest shot by Americans for Legal Immigration PAC:
Raw video of protest in hallway, police disperse crowd with pepper spray
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Bingham Hall on the school's campus, and started shouting profanities at the republican from Colorado who tried to speak about his opposition to in-state tuition for unauthorized immigrants.
Tancredo stopped speaking and left the event after a protester broke a window. He had been invited by a student group that opposes mass immigration and multiculturalism.
You can watch the whole thing unfold in the video below. WARNING: some of the language in the video might be offensive to some viewers.
University of North Carolina Police spokesman Randy Young said the use of pepper spray was being investigated by the department Wednesday.
Tancredo said after leaving that he had never been silenced by protesters. "The multi-culturalist radicals on America's campuses have declared open warfare on free speech, and for the most part, they are getting away with it," Tancredo said in an interview following the event. "There is no freedom of speech on hundreds of university campuses today for people who dare to dissent from the radical political agenda of the socialist left and the open borders agitators."
Two women were ejected after delaying his speech when they spread a 12-foot banner across the front of the classroom that read "No dialogue with hate."
University Chancellor Holden Thorp issued a statement that he was sorry Tancredo wasn't able to speak.
Watch raw video of the protest shot by Americans for Legal Immigration PAC:
Raw video of protest in hallway, police disperse crowd with pepper spray
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