And the beauty of it is that Spencer signed an agreement that he will never return!

ANN ARBOR, MI – The latest speaking engagement for National Policy Institute President Richard Spencer resulted in a disastrous evening for the White supremacist as antifa came out to oppose him and his supporters, resulting in an empty theater a number of brawls and arrests for both sides.

According to news reports, more than 300 tickets were issued to those who wished to attend the event at Michigan State University’s Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock and of that only four dozen came out to see him. Spencer blamed how payment processing and social media platforms barred him and other fascists from doing business, but also noted that they have also been significantly weakened in the aftermath of the events of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA that devolved into a riot instigated by White supremacists and culminating in the death of 34-year-old Heather Heyer when one White supremacist allegedly drove his car into a crowd of people. “There’s a difference between defeats and being defeated,” Spencer said. “I’m here, I’m talking to everyone, people who got punched in the face made it in … but yes, we are in a really tough state.”

At last year’s American Renaissance Conference outside Nashville, Tennessee, which was held two week before Charlottesville, Spencer announced the rally there, saying that it will be a “traumatic” experience for Charlottesville residents.

Over the weekend, antifa did indeed work to mobilize against Spencer’s speaking engagement, as well as other events by other fascist groups in Michigan this weekend and today. Consistently, they were monitoring Spencer, the group Identity Evropa, the Foundation for the Marketplace of Ideas (FMI) and Matthew Heimbach and his Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP). A conference was to be held over the weekend by FMI, but their locations kept being exposed and their plans to publicly organize disrupted. At 3:30 pm Monday, antifascists again found out where TWP and Identity Evropa members were organizing in a last minute attempt to hand out tickets to the Spencer event in the parking lot of a mall in Okemos MI.

Once exposed, the fascists retreated in a premature caravan over to MSU campus for the Spencer event. Once parked, they geared up but the group of 50 or so were met by 350 antifascists holding the street. Antifa practiced community self defense through directly engaging them and successfully pushed them away from their public event and back into the street. The police line present that was criticized as protecting the fascists. At one point, however Greg Conte who’s close association with Richard Spencer cost him his job as a substitute teacher in Maryland was arrested when he attempted to rush into the crowd of antifa as a provocation. It was not the first arrest for fascists this weekend as on Sunday Spencer supporter Jonathon Kolanowski, 24, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon after he brandished a gun while arguing with antifa. But fascists were not the only ones being arrested over the past two days as several of those that came out to confront them are currently in custody on several charges, as well as other fascists. 

Spencer has planned other events around the country, but it remains to be seen if they will happen.

To support those arrested opposing Spencer go to the link at Funded Justice.