Progressive college students and fundamentalist Islamists share an animosity for freedom of speech and a propensity to riot over views with which they disagree, according to Fox News commentator Jesse Watters.
“It’s my opinion that liberals on college campuses now resemble Islamist mobs, where they riot over rhetoric,” Mr. Watters said while guest hosting “The O’Reilly Factor” on Friday night.
His remarks come after students at the University of California, Berkeley rioted over the prospect of allowing opinions with which they disagree to be voiced on campus.
Students at the prestigious public university shut down a speech set to be delivered by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos on Wednesday by assaulting would-be attendees and lighting fires outside of the venue. They later smashed out windows of local businesses and looted stores.
Mr. Watters said he’d seen that sort of behavior before.
“You remember in Iraq and Afghanistan whenever there was an affront to Islam or Islam was challenged, they’d burn the flag and then riot and break things?” he said. “Now, on the left, on college campuses, when liberalism is perceived to be under attack, they riot, they burn things and they hurl expletives and cause complete chaos.”
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.