Last week, campus police at the University of Washington in Seattle arrested a masked individual after he attempted to chain the university’s College Republicans group inside a classroom.
The group was holding its last event of the spring term, and had invited the hosts of Operation Cold Front, a political YouTube channel, to speak at the meeting.
The June 3 event sparked enough controversy that a local chapter of Antifa tried to incite protesters to “de-platform” the invited speakers, Saleem Juma and Dion Thompson.
“There’s space for 100 or so people, but for those who show up, some useful tactics might [be] to sit in using large items that take up additional seats, maybe with headphones in so you don’t have to hear their garbage, or noise demo tactics such as whistles to make it difficult for them to speak over,” the group’s Facebook post said.
“We were expecting members of Antifa to try to take up as many seats as they could in the room because that appeared to be their main threat,” said Chevy Swanson, president of College Republicans.
“We weren’t worried about it because we knew that the room we had was big enough for that to not be a problem. Regardless, though, we met with the police (at their request) and they told us that they didn’t really feel the need to be present,” Swanson added.
About 45 minutes into the event, during the question and answer segment, a masked individual dressed in black appeared by the room’s main window and attempted to chain one of the doors to the room, in an effort to lock the approximately 30 attendees inside.
Swanson said that after hearing the rattling of a chain, he noticed the suspect fumbling with the door. He promptly jumped out of his seat and pushed the door open before the suspect could chain it shut.
Attendees shouted “Antifa” and pursued the masked individual as he fled the scene, as seen in a video of the incident that was posted online.
The video shows the suspect covering his face with a black cloth and shouting, “Find the law that it is illegal to dangle a chain over a door,” after being detained by one of the attendees.
Police soon arrested the suspect, whom they later identified as Ezra Benner, an attendee of a high school class held on the university’s campus.
Benner, 18, is known to the university’s College Republicans.
“The assailant is someone who I have run into a few times,” said Diodato Boucsieguez, the former director of outreach for the College Republicans group. “He [Benner] is someone who does not care about dialogue. He consistently interrupts and appears at College Republican events to stir up trouble or attempt to, anyway … I am not at all amazed that he tried to chain the members of my club inside the room,” Boucsieguez said.
Swanson told The Daily Wire that he has seen Benner at the group’s past events, but that this was the first time he had attempted to disrupt one.
However, both Swanson and Boucsieguez believe that Benner may be a member of Antifa, based on the group’s call to de-platform their event and Benner’s black mask, an article of clothing members of Antifa often wear when disrupting events. Swanson also noted that Benner has been arrested at other protests in the past.
Swanson said this incident is only one of many examples of harassment his group has faced on campus. In April 2018, a woman affiliated with Antifa was arrested and later released by police after she flung paint on members of the group, including Boucsieguez.
Swanson said that although this most recent incident doesn’t deter him from expressing his conservative political beliefs on campus, it may prevent other students from participating in his group in the future.
“Many people are worried about being public in the face of discrimination, threats, and violence. We can hardly blame them for their caution, but it is a serious problem for not just our club, but the conservative movement as a whole,” Swanson said.
Troy Worden is a contributor to Red Alert Politics.
