Far-Right Speaker Is Arrested at U. of Connecticut After Physical Confrontation

A writer and speaker for a far-right website was arrested on Tuesday night at the University of Connecticut after he grabbed a person and a pushing match ensued.

The speaker, Lucian B. Wintrich, was arrested on a charge of “breach of peace,” reports The Hartford Courant. Mr. Wintrich is the White House correspondent for the far-right website Gateway Pundit, an outlet that publishes frequent articles favorable to President Trump and critical of Democratic politicians.

His speech was entitled “It’s OK to Be White.” That phrase, born in the internet community 4chan, a haven for white-nationalist ideologies, has been appearing on signs on college campuses throughout the month. Incidents involving controversial speakers have descended into physical violence this year at the University of California at Berkeley and at Middlebury College, but in neither of those incidents did the speaker physically lash out, much less get arrested.

Mr. Wintrich’s speech was volatile throughout, according to the student newspaper The Daily Campus, as many in the audience of about 350 heckled him, shouting vulgar phrases and chanting, “Go home, Nazi!” The physical altercation started after a woman appeared to grab a piece of paper in front of Mr. Wintrich.

BREAKING: @lucianwintrich appears to attack a @UCONN student during speech after she took something off podium. pic.twitter.com/WAcNYAak7c

— Kevin Galliford (@KallMeKG) November 29, 2017

As she walked away, Mr. Wintrich followed her, and grabbed and scuffled with her for a few seconds. Other people quickly joined the confrontation, but the police intervened and led Mr. Wintrich away. A video showed Mr. Wintrich’s being led from the hall.

#BREAKING @UConn cops just arrested @lucianwintrich for assaulting a student during his “It’s ok to be White” speech. Cops have cleared the lecture hall. @WTNH #CTnews pic.twitter.com/ZRmNT0SOo4

— Mario Boone (@MarioBooneTV) November 29, 2017

The audience continued to protest after Mr. Wintrich’s arrest, according to the student newspaper.

A university spokeswoman said a 19-year-old student was also arrested for breaking a window. On Twitter Wednesday morning Mr. Wintrich blamed some in the audience for the disruption.

It’s really unfortunate that some of the kids at @UConn felt the need to be violent and disruptive during a speech that focused on how the leftist media is turning Americans against each other. Tonight proved my point.

— Lucian B. Wintrich (@lucianwintrich) November 29, 2017

Susan Herbst, the university’s president, issued a statement expressing her dismay toward the speaker and those who committed “reckless vandalism.”

“This was a very disappointing evening,” she said. “Thoughtful, civil discourse should be a hallmark of democratic societies and American universities, and this evening fell well short of that. We live in a tense and angry time of deep political division. Our hope as educators is that creative leadership and intellectual energy can be an antidote to that sickness, especially on university campuses. Between the offensive remarks by the speaker, who also appeared to aggressively grab an audience member, and the reckless vandalism that followed, that was certainly not the case on our campus tonight. We are better than this.”

Chris Quintana is a breaking-news reporter. Follow him on Twitter @cquintanadc or email him at chris.quintana@chronicle.com.