IC Republican Student attacked at vigil for Charlottesville Victim

Ithaca College student Caleb Slater decided to attend a vigil for Charlottesville victim Heather Heyer last weekend in Syracuse. What he didn't expect was to be met with violence.

Arriving to the event wearing a "Young American's Federation" hat, Slater told The College Fix that he wore it "to show that conservatives and progressives can both agree that the alt-right pose a threat to the Western World."

Slater said that members of the crowd began to shout at him, getting more violent as time went on and even choked him by his camera straps. At one point, Slater was dragged and thrown out onto the street.

After being harassed, Slater decided to turn on his camera for a few seconds to capture the incident. In the video, you can hear a man and a woman, allegedly part of the Antifa, screaming, "You're not welcome here."

As a first generation half-Dominican and half-black student, Slater said he went to the event in peace. He told The College Fix, "I came to this event to stand beside my fellow Americans to disavow bigotry and instead I became the victim of bigotry, an intellectual bigotry. I was not attacked for my words, nor my actions. My crime was wearing a hat on public property and I was assaulted for it."

Syracuse's Black Lives Matter chapter organized the event and apologized for the incident.