GAINESVILLE, Florida--Protesters shouted "Go home Nazis" as a white nationalist gave a speech on Thursday at the University of Florida, where hundreds of police set up barricades and separated supporters and demonstrators to guard against violence.
Richard Spencer's event at the university in Gainesville, which prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency to prepare for possible conflict, came about two months after rallies by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to a deadly clash with counter-protesters. The violence on Aug. 12 added fuel to a national debate on race, and Republican President Donald Trump came under fire for blaming both sides for the melee.
White supremacists have been working to bring Spencer to various public universities, saying he has a constitutional right to free speech. The effort has forced college leaders to allow what they see as hate speech on campus and provide security to prevent violent clashes.
On Thursday, several hundred protesters shouting: "We don't want your Nazi hate" marched outside a campus performing arts center where Spencer spoke. The protests were mostly peaceful but there were a few scuffles that left five people with minor injuries, the university said in a statement.
Two people were arrested, including a man hired as security for media for illegally carrying a firearm on campus, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office said. Another man wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with swastikas emerged from a crowd of protesters with a bloody lip.
Inside the venue, Spencer and protesters yelled at one another, and he criticized them for trying to suppress his speech. "I’m not going home," said Spencer, who heads the National Policy Institute, a nationalist think tank, and promoted the Charlottesville rally. "We are stronger than you and you all know it!"
He appeared to have few supporters in the crowd. About 15 white men, all dressed in white shirts and khaki pants, raised their hands when Spencer asked who identified with the alt-right, a loose grouping characterized by a rejection of mainstream politics that includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.
