As he attempted to address Warwick University’s Conservative Association, heckled Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi was drowned out by a mob of trans activists blaring music from outside the lecture hall.
Following screams of ‘Tory scum’ and ‘Zahawi is a transphobe,’ the Education Secretary was chased from the Russell Group campus on Friday by hundreds of LGBT demonstrators holding trans flags and placards.
Mr Zahawi can be seen trying to make a talk to young Conservatives as protesters blast music outside the lecture hall, while a caption underneath reads: ‘Sorry, we can’t hear you,’ according to a video published on social media by Trans Warwick Action, the group that organized the demonstration.
The video then shows security pushing the activists, with the phrase ‘We gave them space to leave yet they shoved us nevertheless’ underneath. Warwick University has been contacted by MailOnline for comment.
Trans Warwick Action wrote on Instagram that Mr Zahawi’s views ‘transfer into actions and as violence against trans people.’
The Conservative Association at Warwick University had invited the Education Secretary to talk to students. Mr. Zahawi has been a driving force behind a new Freedom of Speech Bill that would allow student unions and institutions to be penalized or even sued for censorship and no-platforming of speakers.
It comes as it was revealed yesterday that Joel Cooper, the son of Labour luminaries Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls, was among those who heckled Mr Zahawi. Joel Cooper interrupts the Education Secretary’s Q&A in a video posted by the Warwick Labour Society to chastise him over his trans beliefs. To the delight of fellow Labour activists, he then sits down. Guido Fawkes said that he later posted the video to his Instagram story.
Mr Cooper said on Twitter that he and other activists were ‘blacklisted’ from the event ‘purely because they are LGBT +,’ accusing the Conservative Association of ‘censorship.’
Later, Mr Zahawi defended his right to free speech, tweeting: ‘His right to free speech is fundamental as well.’
‘We will never deny biology but we must always show kindness, tolerance and love when discussing these issues.’
Trans Warwick Action said: ‘On Friday we disrupted an event by Warwick Tories hosting Nadhim Zahawi. In his time as Secretary of State for Education he has suggested that teachers out their students to their teachers. This advice will lead to abuse from parents and makes existing as a trans youth more impossible than his government has already tried to make it.
‘Throughout the event we blasted music from outside the venue to express our opinions about Zahawi and his views. Before leaving the venue we provided a clear space for him to leave. However, security decided to push through PR to allow him to leave the building, leaving some protestors bruised and hurt.
‘There is no calm response to be had to people like this believing they can walk onto campus without resistance. He can speak, sure, but whether we or other students have to listen is another question. As a minister of the given, his views transfer into actions and as violence against trans people.’
Mr Zahawi was dubbed a “reactionary damaging transphobe” by Warwick Pride before the event after he defended Kathleen Stock, a former Sussex lecturer who was persecuted for her views on trans rights and left the university after protests against her.
The organization also alleged that the Education Secretary ‘plays a substantial part in institutional transphobia’ in the UK, that he ‘trivializes’ the impact of outing LGBT+ children to their parents, and that he has used the ‘common transphobic dog-whistle ‘adult human female’.
Tom Garth, 20, the head of the Conservative Association and a politics student, detailed the commotion, saying that protestors were ‘outside the lecture hall, beating on the doors’ and ‘blasting music.’
‘As Zahawi was exiting the second, members-only talk, demonstrators rushed towards him, and one of our executive members, our events secretary, was struck in the head, albeit he was unharmed,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.
‘Then, while Zahawi was leaving with security, they kept following him all the way to his car, attempting to get as near to him as possible.’
A spokeswoman for the University of Warwick Conservative Association, which condemned the protest, claimed the demonstrators’ “anger and vitriol” reflected how they “really feel towards individuals they disagree with.”
‘There is a widespread inability to coexist with those who hold opposing viewpoints on issues that should be subject to legitimate debate,’ they stated.
‘Cries of ‘Tory slime’ were predictable, given the role models these demonstrators look up to for their worldviews.’
‘The UCWA respects the rights to freedom of speech and expression for everyone, regardless of political party,’ they stated in another statement. It’s a shame that many protestors’ goal on this occasion was not to express their own opinions but to prevent the Secretary of State from doing so.
‘A good democracy necessitates tolerance and dialogue with those with whom you disagree, yet many of students protesting appear to believe that Conservatives should not be allowed on campus.’
The episode, according to a Department of Education source, demonstrates the need for new regulations and provides “further evidence against those who claim there is no such thing as a chilling atmosphere on campus.”
Officials from the university are reportedly filing a formal complaint with the Warwick Students’ Union about the event.
‘Academic freedom and freedom of speech have always been vital to who we are and what we do as a university,’ a Warwick University official stated. Learning, challenging assumptions, and comprehending diverse perspectives all require open and free debate.
‘The Conservative Association invited Mr Zahawi to appear as a guest speaker, which was accepted by the Students’ Union, which is separate from the University.
‘We were aware of intentions for a protest at the meeting on Friday evening, and our community safety team made sure it went off without a hitch, despite the fact that it was noisy, disruptive, and aggressive outside.’
‘We always tell our pupils to accept other people’s opinions, even if they disagree from their own.’
The LGBT radicals who sit on Warwick Pride’s executive are undergraduate activists who use numerous gender pronouns and identify as transgender, ‘genderfae,’ and ‘neptunic,’ according to MailOnline.
Vice-President Zuzanna Charkowska is a lesbian economist, politician, and international studies student who has demonstrated with the LGBT rights organisation Campaign Against Homophobia in her home Poland. ‘Movies, politics, Taylor Swift, stitching, and viewing video essays on YouTube,’ according to Warwick Pride’s website. She also says she’s committed to ‘continuing to create a safe atmosphere for queer students at Warwick.’
Raul-Rafael Nemeş, a Campaigns Officer at Warwick University, is pursuing a degree in Life Sciences with a focus on Global Sustainable Development. He describes himself as “gay, queer, and questioning,” with broad interests in “visual arts such as painting and sculpture” as well as “the environment, climate change, and social justice.” He wants to ‘raise awareness about LGBTQ+ problems on campus and beyond, and learn more about campaigning,’ according to him.
The president of Warwick Pride, Mia, is a little less well-known figure. Mia is a transgender, non-binary, genderfae, asexual, demiromantic, and neptunic undergraduate studying mathematics and physics. ‘Music, electronics, programming, arcana, community administration and moderation’ – and ‘Lego’ – are among their passions.
Aurore, the communications officer, is a woman who identifies as a lesbian and studies English Literature and History. She wants to promote Warwick Pride’s events and “assist in reaching out to many LGBT students at Warwick to make their experience more safe and pleasurable,” she says.
On Warwick Pride’s website, the Treasurer and Trans & Aro/Ace Community Officer have utilized avatars instead of photos of themselves. Sylvia, the Treasurer, is a MORSE student who identifies as a ‘woman, transsexual, mostly heterosexual’. ‘Uke/Jupiter,’ the Trans & Aro/Ace Community Officer, is studying Physics with Astrophysics and lists ‘dinosaurs’ as a general interest.
Warwick Pride did not respond to a request for comment.