Kaitlin Bennett, a controversial gun rights activist and conservative provocateur, caused a commotion at the University of Central Florida and was ultimately chased off the school’s campus Thursday.
Ms. Bennett, who regularly makes videos of herself provoking college students, said on social media that she visited the school to interview people about the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
Footage shared by Ms. Bennett, 24, showed her being confronted by dozens of protesters before seeking refugee in the back of a campus bagel shop. She said she needed a police escort to eventually leave the campus.
Ms. Bennett later referred to the protesters as “left-wing terrorists,” accused them of violating her freedom of speech and urged President Trump to defund the University of Central Florida.
The University of Central Florida said in a statement that Ms. Bennett was at the campus “to agitate and offend” and that it first intervened when her group failed to abide by health and safety rules.
At least one person in Ms. Bennett’s group was not wearing a mask in violation of the university’s policies for COVID-19, the contagious disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the school said.
“Our policy was explained to the group and after a period of time, the group complied and wore face coverings,” the university said in a statement. “This is the first time during the period of COVID-19 that UCF has dealt with a free expression scenario of this nature, and the university must enforce this health and safety policy with all visitors.”
Video shared by Ms. Bennett showed campus police instructing her to leave at one point because her presence was attracting protesters and accordingly creating unsafe health conditions.
Ms. Bennett first made waves in 2018 when she posted holding an AR-10 rifle in graduation photos taken at Kent State in Ohio, where National Guardsmen fatally shot four protesters in 1970.
She uploads her confrontational videos on a YouTube channel, “Liberty Hangout,” in addition to regularly contributing to the Infowars website published by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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