Protesters arrested prior to Milo Yiannopoulos event at MSU

Updated at 8:30 a.m. Thursday:

EAST LANSING - Milo Yiannopoulos milled through the crowd of supporters and protesters assembled outside Conrad Hall Wednesday night. They were waiting for him to speak. He was holding a sign that said "Milo sucks."

He revealed himself to a chorus of cheers and jeers, before leaving the area under the protection of the Michigan State University Police Department.

The Brietbart News editor, avowed anti-feminist and critic of "P.C. culture" at on college campuses, came to MSU as part of his "Dangerous Faggot" tour. Yiannopoulos is gay.

Protests are a regular occurrence at his speaking engagements. MSU was no different.

Approximately 15 minutes before doors were set to open, police announced protesters were participating in an illegal assembly by blocking the entrance to the building. Protesters were told to stand aside as doors were open and those with tickets flooded toward the entrance.

Seven people, including two students, were arrested prior to the event, said MSU Police Captain Doug Monette. All seven were charged with violating MSU's disorderly assembly or conduct ordinance, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $100 fine, or both. Five of those arrested, including one student, also were charged with resisting and obstructing, Monette said, a felony under the Michigan Penal Code punishable by up to two years in jail, a fine of $2,000, or both.

The entire building was locked ahead of the event to protect students who came out to see Yiannopoulos as well as those who came to protest, Monette said.

“It’s part of our responsibly to secure freedom of speech for both sides just like any event at the university,” he said.

Adela Myles didn’t have a ticket but decided to try to get in anyway. She wasn’t successful, but she stuck around to talk to those who managed to get in.

“I love Milo,” the MSU junior said.

Seeing the protesters and hearing chants about hate speech, Myles asked aloud, “Who are they to decide what hate speech is?”

Yiannopoulos, the senior tech editor at Brietbart, was invited to campus by the MSU chapter of Young Americans for Liberty earlier this year. A new student group, Spartans for Free Speech, took over organization of the event.

“We believe political correctness has gone too far,” a statement provided by the group read. “Who better to address this outrage culture than an outrageous speaker who has been dubbed "the most fabulous supervillain on the internet?"

Attempts to talk with members of Spartans for Free Speech were unsuccessful. The Lansing State Journal was among the media organizations not granted access to the event.

Patrick Ruch and Rahul Pillai stood among the protesters assembled in front of Conrad Hall. The two undergraduates said they came out to voice their opposition to Yiannopoulos' appearance.

“I didn’t like that MSU decided to let him come, and also, I really hate the group that brought him here and I don’t agree with his views,” Pillai said.

MSU plays host to all sorts of speakers who hold varied and sometimes controversial views, MSU spokesman Jason Cody said ahead of the event. Students, not the university, invited Yiannopoulos and booked the room where he spoke. The university allowed the ticketed event to take place despite pressure from campus and outside groups.

More than a dozen posters advertising the event with phrases that included "Muslims please stop killing people" and "Muslims are gay," were removed from the Sparty Statue Wednesday morning, said Fred Kester, a landscape services coordinator at MSU.

Anthony Aubrey, a 26-year-old junior at Central Michigan University, drove from the Mt. Pleasant area to check out the event. He didn’t buy a ticket and said he doesn’t agree with Yiannopoulos’ views, but he wasn’t there to protest either.

“You can’t ban speech,” Aubrey said. “Once you start drawing lines of what’s acceptable and what’s not, you open the door for anything to be banned.”

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.