Torch-Bearing White Supremacists Told To Leave UT-Austin

AUSTIN, TX — A group of demonstrators wearing face masks and carrying torches — a lit hallmark of the white supremacist movement — gathered on the campus Saturday morning before police asked them to leave.

University president Greg L. Fenves confirmed the incident in a prepared statement. He said campus police quickly arrived and asked the group to leave.

“The actions of white supremacists and other hate groups are completely anathema to UT’s values, and I abhor what they represent,” Fenves said in a statement. “These are difficult times for our nation, with movements fueled by hatred increasingly taking root, as we saw in Charlottesville and elsewhere. We must continue to denounce these ugly, un-American ideas in the strongest terms."

The group was described as being composed of primarily white men, and no UT-Austin students were believed to be among them. While the university encourages a free exchange of ideas, it is not welcoming of groups unaffiliated with the school promoting hate-filled messages, Fenves said.

"The University of Texas is committed to free speech and the robust exchange of ideas among students, employees and invited visitors — but our campus is not open for non-university-affiliated groups to stage protests or gatherings," Fenves added. "Those that have been warned about these rules and do not leave or who return to campus are subject to arrest. These demonstrators were also in clear violation of a number of our official policies intended to protect safety, including a ban on masks and open flames."

Fenves vowed never to allow such groups to undermine the university's values: "We are committed to maintaining an inclusive environment for all who come here to learn, grow and discover. We, as a community, are responsible for defining who we are and what we stand for."

In referencing Charlottesville, Fenves alluded to an August gathering in Virginia that served as staging for a demonstration by neo-Nazis and white supremacists bearing torches as exclamation point to their belief system. One of the demonstrators plowed his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman. In spite of the violence their presence sparked, a second gathering of white supremacists returned to Charlottesville for a follow-up demonstration — complete with lit torches and khaki pants, affectations that have emerged as something of a starter kit for such hate groups.

The stealthy demonstration at the UT-Austin campus came the same day as a subsequent gathering at Austin City Hall. Calling for the removal of Donald Trump from office, some 45 protesters gathered outside the municipal building in an anti-fascism protest only to be met with a counter-protesting group of about 75 people expressing pro-Trump pro-gun views, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

>>> Image of Greg L. Fenves via UT-Austin