‘This Was a Riot’: Protesters Detonate Smoke Bomb, Burn Effigy at Debate on Transgenderism
19th April 2023
Protesters attempted to disrupt a debate on transgenderism at the University of Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, detonating a smoke bomb and burning a dummy featuring the face of one of the debate’s speakers.
Campus police released an emergency notification near the start of the debate, between commentators Michael Knowles and Brad Polumbo, after an explosion was heard on campus, the Pitt News reported. Police later identified the source of the explosion as a combination of a firework and smoke bomb. More than 250 people participated in the protest of the debate, which concerned the question of whether transgenderism should be regulated by law.
“This was not a protest like for the other ones,” said Dylan Mitchell, president of Pitt College Republicans. “This was a riot.”
But, of course, as we all know, only Republicans engage in political violence.