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UPDATE: 1:43 PM, The article has been updated to include a statement from an NYU spokesperson

Almost a dozen people were arrested and scuffles took place at New York University on Thursday night, as a large crowd of anti-fascist protesters confronted police and white supremacists outside a short-lived event featuring a prominent member of the neo-fascist alt-right movement.

The event, hosted by NYUs College Republicans, played host to Gavin McInnis, an ousted co-founder of Vice Media and leader of the Proud Boys, a misogynist clique of internet trolls aligned with the racist identity movement known as the alt-right. The speech was cut short amid continued interruptions from protesters, who snuck into the event while dozens more confronted police and McInnis supporters outside.

McInnis is known for racist and misogynist rhetoric calling for the targeted harassment of marginalized groups. Among other things, he has compared black actress Jada Pinkett Smith to a monkey, suggested that Jewish people were ostracized for a good reason, and wrote an article titled Transphobia Is Perfectly Natural, which attempts to rationalize a false stereotype that transgender people suffer from untreated mental disorders.

McInnis was pepper-sprayed by one of the protesters while entering NYUs Kimmel Center, as the group outside blocked the sidewalk chanting Fuck White Supremacy and FTP, Fuck The Police. Shortly after, masked protesters set fire to a Make America Great Again hat that was snatched from one of McInnis supporters during a brief scuffle. Police rushed into the crowd to extinguish the flames, then unexpectedly charged into the group, grabbing and pinning protesters to the ground as the rest dispersed around the building toward a side entrance.

McInnis speech lasted less than 15 minutes before he began lashing out at NYU administrators amid constant interruptions from protesters, several people who were present told Vocativ. A student reporter for NYU Local said that McInnis called an NYU spokesperson a dumb, liberal asshole and left after the staff refused to eject the protesters.

He held the floor for some 20 mins, although he was interrupted repeatedly, said NYU spokesman John Beckman, in a statement emailed to Vocativ. The decision to end the event when he did was his own.

Beckman noted that there was no violence or arrests inside the Kimmel Center, where only students with IDs were admitted. He also claimed that the crowds of protesters outside were largely composed of non-NYU protesters.

In a tense stand-off, a small group of McInnis supporters stood near the side entrance arguing with and taunting protesters while under the protection of a large contingent of police. One of the Proud Boys, later identified as Salvador Cipolla, crossed the street and attacked a reporter from DNAinfo, aggressively posturing and yanking at the reporters press badge before being arrested by the NYPD. Another Proud Boy wearing a MAGA hat was splashed in the face with water while giving an interview to an NYU student reporter.

Many of the protesters were aligned with the anti-fascist resistance movement, or Antifa, which seeks to combat rising fascism and bigotry by directly (and sometimes violently) confronting its adherents. The movement has seen a major resurgence of activity following the rise of racist far-right groups newly emboldened by the election of Donald Trump, who has embraced racist and anti-immigrant policies during his campaign and in his two weeks as president.

The protest against McInnis comes just one day after another protest at the University of California Berkeley shut down a speech from former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, another prominent alt-right leader. Yiannopoulos has been banned from Twitter and recently encouraged the harassment of a transgender student during a speech at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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Anti-Fascist Protesters Shut Down 'Alt-Right' Speaker At NYU - Vocativ

CECILIA DAVENPORT, an Alt-Right blogger, likes to tweet "fan-girl" photos of Richard Spencer (pictured), the movements unofficial leader. In one photo, Mr Spencer, who in November held a conference in Washington, DC to celebrate what he described as a white nationalist awakening, is shown talking on the phone: Heil girl, lets get daiquiris later and talk about making you queen of the ethnostateof my heart. The memes are an ironic take on the popular Hey girl meme in which Ryan Gosling, a Hollywood actor, is shown as a feminist boyfriend, saying things like Hey girl, sure Ill unload the dishwasher for you. Just let me finish folding and putting away the laundry first.

Ms Davenport is one of a small number of women who publicly identify themselves as members of the Alt-Right. Mr Spencer has said he believes women constitute around one-fifth of the movements followers. A video from the November conference is revealing: it shows attendees giving Nazi salutes, all of them men. Peter Brimelow, another Alt-Right leader who runs VDARE, an anti-immigration site, says this is because women are not drawn to radical politics. He points to the protesters that inevitably surround Alt-Right events: These people are obscene and violent. The police will not stop them. Very few women, and not many men, want to subject themselves to that sort of risk.

It is an odd kind of thinking that sees danger in democratic protests against fascism and white supremacism. But this is consistent with the Alt-Rights sense of being victims in a liberal society. The notion that women shy away from dangerous politics does not hold up, of course: they have led some of Americas most radical movements, including labour reform, prohibition, and abolitionnot to mention womens suffrage.

A more likely explanation is that white nationalism valorises a distinctly macho culture. I love empire, I love power, I love achievement, Mr Spencer has said. The movement is founded on white dispossessionthe idea that immigration and multiculturalism will leave white people marginalised and dispossessed. It offers men a role as heroic protectors. Followers of the movement see liberal politics and political correctness, by contrast, as a form of oversensitive, feminine hysteria: Who can respect such pathetic crybabies? Mr Spencer has tweeted. Mainstream conservatism is similarly held in contempt.

For white men who feel displaced and emasculated by a society in which women and minorities are treated as their equals, this culture can be appealing. It is less clear what it has to offer women. But Ms Davenport is not convinced that the movement fails to attract women. I dont actually think there are so few women in the Alt-Right, she says. She knows of at least 100 herself, she says, who are followers. Women tend to be more private, she reckons, and less likely to signal their support publicly.

Nevertheless, Ms Davenport and another blogger, Wolfie James, are working to pull more women into the movement, by giving advice to men. For those whose partners are resistant to Alt-Right ideology, Ms James has written an online guide. How to red pill your woman suggests tactics like triggering the fear of assault by immigrants because women are more emotional than rational.

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No women's march: Women and the Alt-Right | The Economist - The Economist (blog)

Reddit has banned three major alt-right subreddits for breaching the companys content policy as part of an overall strategy to stamp out extremism on the site initiated by former CEO Ellen Pao.

The so-called Alt-right arelargely known for their vehement anti-liberal stance, oftenfavoring white supremacist views instead.

This new ban targets the /r/altright, /r/rightyfriends and /r/alternativeright subreddits on the site, although the company has only alluded to breaches in the companys content policy as to why it shut them down, and has yet to make an official public statement on the ban.

Speculation is rife online, however, that the real reason for the shutdown centers around an incident involving controversial, alt-right figurehead Richard Spencer.

More specifically, following the attack on Spencer, a fund was set up on the controversial website wesearchr to identify Spencers assailant, with a bounty of $5,353 offered for information leading to his identification.

READ MORE: Alt-right leader sucker punched by masked man during DC protest rally (VIDEO)

This practice, known as doxxing, relates to the the proliferation of personal and confidential information for malicious purposes. Many online commentators and journalists believe repeated discussion of and links to this particular attempt at doxxing is the main catalyst for the ban.

Reddit is the proud home to some of the most authentic conversations online. We strive to be a welcoming, open platform for all by trusting our users to maintain an environment that cultivates genuine conversation and adheres to our content policy, the company said in a statement.

We knew this day was coming, so it comes as no surprise... But the admins are playing a losing game of whack-a-mole here, user /u/MortalSisyphus, a former /r/altright moderator of the subreddit, said in a statement.The more the established political institutions try to maintain the status quo and marginalize us, the more they will drive free-thinking, independent lovers of truth to our side.

READ MORE: Twitter suspends alt-right WeSearchr on back of dubious bounty offer

A former senior moderator of the altright subreddit, who identified himself as Bill Simpson, told The Daily Beast, however, that he believed moderators on the site had been overly strict.

So much for leftist tolerance, Simpson said. Our moderator team enforced stricter standards of behavior than reddit requires, and our users were very prompt at reporting violations so we could ban violators and delete posts and comments that broke the rules.

While Reddit has long been known as a champion of freedom of speech, there has seemingly been a recent dramatic shift in policy. During the US presidential campaign, Reddits CEO Steve Huffman even admitted to directly editing posts directly attacking or referencing him in the dedicated Donald Trump subreddit, /r/The_Donald.

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'Alt-right' groups banned from Reddit in shock move - RT

The alt-right started 2017 strong.

Donald Trump, hero to the white nationalist movement, was inaugurated as president. Richard Spencer, would-be head of the movement, launched a new website and announced plans for a national tour. And the Reddit channel /altright/, a main congregating point for the largely-online movement, saw 5,000 new subscribers in just one month.

We started at 11,870 and as of this posting, we have 16,445, wrote the Reddit user TomorrowBelongsToUs. Keep spreading the word. This is the place to red-pill people.

Red-pill is a term used by the alt-right to signify ones political awakening to white nationalism.

Act like your posts and responses are reaching thousands of people whom you want to red pill, because they are! Be welcoming to new people and always follow reddits rules, TommorowBelongsToUs went on.

On a thread dedicated to the surge in alt-right subscribers, users debated what it meant that there was an uptick in interestamong a wider range of groups than some had expected.

I am strongly in favor of welcoming people who can be an asset to our movement, and even welcome blacks to discuss with us, wrote One_Winged_Rook, but Jews simply have no place here.

The user went on: They are not welcome by me, and its something I feel we should all agree on.

The alt-right has conflicted and complex views of Jews and Israel. The question of how Jews fit into the movement and the white nation more broadly is a source of division within alt-right ranks.

Other users were surprised that their alt-right sub-Reddit had not been shut down.

TBH its shocking we havent been shoahd, the user LeoMacht wrote.

Shoah is a reference to the Holocaust. The term is used here as a verb and has taken on meaning in the alt-right to mean killed or shut down.

Another user shared that they were one of those thousands of subscribers who had recently been drawn to the alt-right.

I came here on a whim because I kept hearing people refer to the alt right like some kind of nazi hate group and I wanted to see what it is all about, wrote Revrant. Needless to say, it isnt a hate group. I feel like the SJWs and BS like that basically created the alt right, or the need for the alt right.

SJW, or social justice warrior, is a is a pejorative term used to refer to progressive activists.

Revrant went on: People get tired of them trying to re-define reality.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

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White Nationalist 'Alt-Right' Celebrates a Banner Month - Forward

The University of California, Berkeley has cancelled a speech by rightwing internet troll Milo Yiannopoulos after thousands of students gathered in protest and a group of black-clad anti-fascist activists shot fireworks at the speech venue.

The Martin Luther King Jr student union was heavily fortified behind several layers of police barricades when protesters began gathering outside at 5pm on Wednesday, three hours before the event was scheduled to start.

The gathering was boisterous but peaceful until about 6pm, when several dozen protesters wearing black face masks and carrying glittering flags arrived. The group quickly attacked the police barricades, then began shooting firecrackers at the building. Some used barricades to smash windows.

After about 15 minutes, a police officer announced that the event was cancelled.

Some cheered when the police announced the cancellation, but others continued to jeer and call for the police to send Milo out to face the crowd. Milo isnt here, one police officer shouted amid the din. Milo isnt here.

Around 6pm local time, Yiannopoulos posted a statement on Facebook claiming that the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down.

After the event was cancelled, and after the crowd watched a light pole that had been set aflame burn itself out, the atmosphere in the crowd quickly turned festive.

A large sound system was turned on, blasting music. The first song played was YGs Fuck Donald Trump.

At one point riot police on the student unions second floor appeared to fire non-lethal weapons at the crowd, but it was unclear what kind.

We wont put up with the violent rhetoric of Milo, Trump or the fascistic alt-right, said a Berkeley history student who declined to give his name. The student, who was dressed in black and wore a face mask, carried a banner that read Queers bash back. He said he identified with the antifa (anti-fascist) movement.

We are willing to resist by any means necessary, he added.

Lana Wachowski, another protester, defended using extreme tactics to deny Yiannopolous a platform. The moral imperative is to win, she said. Theres something to be said for fighting according to a code, but if you lose, people are going to die. People are going to get deported.

Its absolutely acceptable to use violence. They are 100% certain to use it against us.

Trump threatened to pull federal funding from Berkeley in a tweet sent early on Thursday morning:

The Yiannopoulos event, which was sponsored by the Berkeley College Republicans, has divided the former home of the free speech movement in recent weeks. Many students, alumni and community members demanded that action be taken to stop Yiannopoulos from spreading his racist and transphobic views.

Last week, university chancellor Nicholas Dirks defended Yiannopouloss right to speak on campus, though he described the Breitbart editor as a troll and provocateur who uses odious behavior in parts to entertain, but also to deflect any serious engagement with ideas whose act [is] at odds with the values of this campus.

Dirks also addressed Yiannopouloss tendency to single out individual students on stage such as a transgender student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for mockery and abuse, which the chancellor said does not justify prior restraint on his freedom of expression.

The Berkeley College Republicans said in a statement that the opportunity to invite Yiannopoulos was too good to pass up, though it disclaimed that the group does not agree with everything Milo has said or done, and totally disavow [sic] any violence or hurt that could result from this event.

Just hours before the protests, Reddit banned an alt-right subreddit page, r/altright, that had become a community for white nationalists. The page now reads: This subreddit was banned due to a violation of our content policy, specifically, the proliferation of personal and confidential information.

Yiannopoulos is a well-known figure in the rightwing internet, though he was permanently banned from Twitter in July 2016 for instigating racist and sexist abuse of Ghostbusters actor Leslie Jones. Since 2015, Yiannopoulos has traveled to university campuses as part of his Dangerous Faggot tour, frequently provoking student protests.

A protester was shot and seriously injured outside a Yiannopoulos speech at the University of Washington on 20 January, reportedly by a Trump supporter who was seeking Yiannopouloss autograph.

This article was amended on 2 February 2017. An earlier version referred to the University of Wisconsin Madison where the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was meant.

Link:
UC Berkeley cancels 'alt-right' speaker Milo Yiannopoulos as thousands protest - The Guardian