A protest turned violent on Colorado State University’s campus at a conservative speaker’s event Friday night.
According to reports, protests outside the venue where Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk was speaking were largely peaceful. However, near the end of the event, socialists and self-described anti-fascists clashed with a third group on the campus plaza.
The Coloradoan reported people armed with bats, riot shields, gas masks, and large flashlights stormed the area chanting Nazi slogans as a counter-protest to anti-fascist protesters.
Campus police equipped in riot gear, along with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, clamped down on the clash, and the protesters dispersed.
CSU police Chief Scott Harris issued a dispersal order after the speech due to "a risk of an imminent threat of potential violence" following the speech.
Emeshe Amade, a CSU student who was on the scene, told the Coloradoan that she believes members of the Traditionalist Worker Party, who were tied to anti-immigration fliers that stirred controversy on campus earlier in the week, were present in the violent clash.
The same student also said she witnessed members of the anti-fascists get violently assaulted.
No arrests were made at the scene, and CSU police could not confirm whether the Traditionalist Worker Party was involved.