Reporter Attacked at University of Washington Encampment Before TPUSA Event
On Tuesday, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) CEO and founder Charlie Kirk spoke to students at the University of Washington (UW) where just last week a TPUSA chapter member was assaulted by a protester participating in the Gaza “liberation zone.”
In the hours leading up to Kirk’s speaking engagement, Jonathan Choe, who was at the campus reporting on behalf of Frontlines for TPUSA, was attacked by protesters near the “liberation” encampment at the UW.
The assault, which was caught on video and shared by Frontlines, shows protesters attacking members of Choe’s security team and later chasing Choe away from the area. The police were called to respond to the incident and are now investigating. One member of Choe’s security team was hit by a protester and required medical attention, however, no other injuries have been reported at this time.
“What’s happening at the University of Washington is no longer about students protesting for Palestine. This is a full-blown Antifa takeover,” Choe told TPUSA in the aftermath of the attack. “This campus has been infiltrated by professional far-left activists focused on causing chaos and destruction. School leaders must shut this encampment down before others are seriously injured.”
Protesters also wrote Choe’s home address on cardboard signs and umbrellas which were being displayed throughout the campus in an effort to dox him. Reporters attempting to obtain footage of the “liberation zone,” however, were followed by students carrying large umbrellas to prevent fellow participants in the protest from being “doxed” themselves.
Prior to Kirk’s visit, which was scheduled months in advance as part of his “Live Free” Tour, students at the university and those representing the “liberation” encampment that was formed on the campus demanded that the TPUSA event be canceled. The students claimed that Kirk and TPUSA would be “endangering students” by hosting the event on campus.
Fliers were placed around campus calling Kirk a “Zionist,” “white supremacist,” and “Christian nationalist.” The posters urged students to gather their peers to “disrupt, oppose, and reject” Kirk’s appearance on campus.
More than a hundred students are currently participating in the “liberation zone” by camping in the Seattle campus quad. The students have demanded that the university “Divest from Israel and profiteers of genocide,” “Cut ties with Boeing,” and “End repression of pro-Palestine students, faculty, and staff.”
“[I] walked through the quad before [Kirk’s] tabling event, and not only was almost the whole quad covered [with protesters] but I even saw a couple of homeless people in that mini-community,” Katelyn Seratt, a member of the TPUSA chapter at UW, told TPUSA.
As Kirk’s speech concluded, protesters formed a human barricade at the east entrance of the encampment to intimidate conservative attendees preparing to exit TPUSA’s event. Several altercations were recorded by reporters following the event.
“After a successful evening event and day of tabling, ANTIFA is attempting to intimidate our attendees as the event ends,” Kirk shared on X Tuesday night. “They are mostly non-students the university should immediately deal with but for some reason allow to roam free and bully the student body.”
