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Speech by conservatives Charlie Kirk, Lara Trump spurs protests at NC State

Some students at North Carolina State University face off over a campus appearance by conservative speakers Charlie Kirk and Lara Trump, and protesters of that event clashed with the son of Congressman Dan Bishop earlier this week.

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By
Julian Grace, Aaron Thomas, WRAL reporters,
and
Alfred Charles, WRAL.com managing editor
RALEIGH, N.C. — Hundreds of people turned out Wednesday to protest the appearance of conservative speakers Charlie Kirk and Lara Trump on the campus of North Carolina State University, with demonstrators expressing support and opposition to the speech.

The event was called Culture War and it was hosted by Turning Point USA, which was founded by Kirk, a conservative activist. Some students believe that NC State is giving a voice to a group that promotes and engages in hateful speech against minorities, views they say do not represent the majority opinion of students and faculty at the university.

About 800 protestors turned out to express opposition to the event, while 600 audience members attended the speech while another 600 were turned away.

Holding signs and chanting, it was clear that the appearances by Kirk and Trump, President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law and an NC State graduate, stoked passions on both sides.

"We live in America where the Constitution protects our rights to free speech and Charlie Kirk has just as much right to share his opinion," said Mallory Padgett. "If they don’t like it, you can go somewhere else."

Jarrell Patterson disagreed.

"What (Kirk) is speaking on is about hate and we do not protect hate at this school," he said. "We protect freedom of speech but not hate."

According to university officials, there were no arrests or major incidents during the dueling protests.

The speeches came one day after another round of controversy involving the son of a U.S. Congressman.

Jack Bishop, son of Rep. Dan Bishop, tweeted that he was "assaulted" on Monday by members of the university's chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America who were in the university's "Free Expression Tunnel" on campus Monday when a confrontation ensued.

During the campus protest, members of Turning Point USA, which support the speech, clashed with members of YDSA.

"It's polarizing, and if NC State wanted to avoid this kind of thing, they wouldn't let such hateful, bigoted people come to campus," said senior Emery Harwell, a member of YDSA. "We don't agree at all with what they stand for."

"When they come in and try to intimidate people from going to an event, like many people have expressed to me, that's where you draw the line," said Luke Stancil, a senior who supports the speakers. "You had conservative students that were promoting tomorrow night's event in the Free Expression Tunnel (and) they came in and they tried to disrupt and intimidate conservative students from being able to assemble (and) freedom of expression in the Free Expression Tunnel."

A complaint was filed with campus police that alleges simple assault and damage to personal property but much of the report obtained by WRAL News is redacted or doesn't list any information.

In the social media post, Bishop alleged that he was attacked by 24 protesters who "rolled up on us with spray paint and proceeded to spray my eyes, neck/head and torso."

Video provided to WRAL News shows demonstrators spray painting over advertisements posted in the tunnel about the appearance by Kirk and Trump.

In that video, it appears that Jack Bishop had his back against the tunnel wall and facing a demonstrator, who appeared to spray paint Bishop when he shifted his position to be directly in the path of the spray paint.

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