Webloggin » The Party of Free Speech? I think not.

Jim Gilchrist of the Minutemen project tried to speak at Columbia University before the stage was rushed by members of the Democrat party base who were chanting “There are no illegals!” At the end of the scuffle students shouted “Asian, Black, Brown and White, we smashed the Minutemen tonight!”

Mr. Gilchrist did not get to complete the speech; another disgrace courtesy of an American University. Agree or disagree the students have every right to protest. That in no way implies that they have the right to shut down the free speech of Mr. Gilchrist who was obviously invited to speak at the University.

Michelle Malkin notes that the extreme left wing group IndyMedia is trying to frame this as an attack on peaceful student protesters by violent members of the College Republicans.

We celebrate free speech: for that reason we allowed the Minutemen to speak, and for that same reason we peacefully occupied the stage and spoke ourselves. Our peaceful protest was violently attacked by members of the College Republicans and their supporters, who are the very same people who invited the Minutemen to our campus in the first place. The Minutemen are not a legitimate voice in the debate on immigration. They are a racist, armed militia who have declared open hunting season on immigrants, causing countless hate crimes and over 3000 deaths on the border. Why should exploitative corporations have free passes between nations, but individual people not? No human being is illegal. – NYC IndyMedia Group Representing the Protesters

Fortunately the cameras were rolling and the story is not quite that one sided.

Mob Rule at Columbia University

More at The BWOG who was live bloggin the event.

UPDATE: Some of the morons who participated in the brawl posted gloating messages and images on facebook (a mySpace like website frequented by students). Now the University is suing the social networking site to investigate the incident. Hat Tip Blue Crab Boulevard – “Yes, We Were Stupid”.