WATCH: Students clash with Matt Walsh at SLU

Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh visited Saint Louis University on Dec. 1 to give a speech titled “Why the Pro-Life Movement is Center Stage in the Culture War.” Upon his arrival, students took to the streets with signs to protest Walsh’s presence on campus 

[RELATED: SLU students petition to bar Matt Walsh from campus. Walsh counters.]

A livestream from the Young America’s Foundation’s (YAF) Instagram shows many student protesters standing in an intersection and blocking traffic.

Matt Walsh himself can also be seen approaching the protestors to have a conversation. The protestors expressed anger at his attempt to do so. 

“Do not come over here,” one protester shouts at Walsh.

“Get off of our campus!” another says

Matt Walsh responds, “I can be here if I want to be here.”

Protesters then began to chant “my body, my choice” to drown Walsh out. 

A video tweeted by Walsh shows students shrieking upon being repeatedly asked “What is a woman?”

I went out to say hi to my protesters and give them a chance to answer my “what is a woman” question. They declined, it seems. pic.twitter.com/1qRzOPgod9

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) December 2, 2021

[RELATED: WATCH: California college profs block traffic over union negotiation]

YAF also tweeted throughout the night about the protest and Walsh’s speech.

Another video posted to twitter shows protestors blocking off an intersection outside of the venue in which Walsh was speaking in:

BREAKING: protestors have blocked off the intersection outside of @MattWalshBlog’s lecture in St. Louis pic.twitter.com/DCvmV2PnAb

— YAF (@yaf) December 2, 2021

Although students tried to shut down the event, over 400 attendees filled up the room to listen to what Walsh had to say, according to YAF’s Twitter account:

Free speech won tonight at St. Louis University.

Nearly 400 students turned out to hear @MattWalshBlog and conservative ideas! pic.twitter.com/LmZWzdvoaV

— YAF (@yaf) December 2, 2021

Nick Baker, College Republicans President at SLU, told Campus Reform that the protest was “a disruption to the community.”

“We believe that a better way of expressing their views would have been to come to the event and engage in civil conversation with Matt,” Baker told Campus Reform.

Baker added that the disruption remained outside of the venue and that “everything on the inside remained peaceful.”

Baker also claimed that protestors also allegedly threw “projectile objects out their windows” at students standing in line to attend the event. 

Virginia Kruta, a member of the Daily Wire team also corroborated via her Twitter page that items, specifically liquid, were being thrown from the apartment buildings above:

Almost forgot to mention: the event is being held in a ballroom on the ground floor of a building that contains apartments on the upper floors — someone was throwing something liquid from the upper windows onto the people waiting in line before the doors open.

— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) December 2, 2021

SLU College Republicans Vice President Connor Buss said that he was “disappointed” by the way protesters behaved.

“We were disappointed that students with opposing views felt the need to disrupt the community,” Buss told Campus Reform. “We were also disappointed that they turned down the opportunity to have productive civil discourse with Matt and felt the need to cause problems instead.”

If it weren’t for law enforcement present at the scene, things could have been a lot worse, according to Buss.

“We are grateful for law enforcement keeping everyone safe and under control.”

Prior to the event’s date, students attending the university created a petition to prevent Matt Walsh from speaking on campus. The petition has received just over 1,600 signatures. 

“As you are likely aware, SLU College Republicans plans to host conservative speaker Matt Walsh on December 1st in the Wool Ballrooms. His speech is titled ‘Why the Pro-Life Movement is Center Stage in the Culture War.’ Anticipating his presence on campus has instilled fear in many SLU students,” read the petition addressed to administrators. 

Walsh created a counter-petition, which has received over 18,500 signatures. This is over 11 times more signatures than students protesting him were able to obtain. 

“We the undersigned believe that SLU administrators should not cave to the leftist demand to shut down the upcoming Matt Walsh talk,” it reads. “This campaign is driven by ignorance, cowardice, fear, and stupidity.”

Campus Reform reached out to Saint Louis University and Matt Walsh for comment, this article will be updated accordingly. 

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @logandubil