Police surround protesters during Clinton speech at FIU

Conservative student groups and community activists came together on the campus of Florida International University (FIU) today to protest an invite-only event on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The student protesters were allegedly shut-down by police when they started assembling near the Wertheim Performing Arts Center.

In a video obtained by Campus Reform, students were told by FIU police that they would be subject to arrest if they did not move away from the building and into a “free assembly area.” However, according to FIU policies and procedures, there are no free-assembly areas adjacent to the Wertheim building.

According to CBS Miami, Clinton called on Congress to lift the longstanding U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, arguing that doing so would bring “dignity and democracy” to the Caribbean nation.

Rey Anthony, a senior at FIU and a third generation Cuban-American, told Campus Reform in an interview that the students had organized a peaceful protest and found it “insulting to a Cuban community like ours to come to our community and speak right across from a memorial that commemorates hundreds of people that fell to the Castro regime.”

The memorial that Anthony is referring to is the Memorial Cubano, which memorializes victims of the Castro regime. It is located in Tamiami Park, near the Wertheim building.

“Essentially, the police corralled us away and continually moved us back, but thankfully there were some passionate advocates who have been abused by the Castro regime that continued to be vocal,” said Anthony.

He went on to say that the students felt as though they were being “racially and politically discriminated against” simply because their views did not align with the Clinton campaign and liberal administrators at FIU.

FIU and the FIU police could not be reached for a comment.

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