Students disrupt Tancredo speech

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., April 15 (UPI) -- A speech by former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., was disrupted by hundreds of student protesters at the University of North Carolina.

The students shouted profanities at Tancredo Tuesday and accused him of racism for opposing the granting of in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants, The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, N.C., reported Wednesday.

Just minutes after Tancredo began speaking, one of the protesters shattered a window in the room, prompting Tancredo to leave and leading campus police to shut down the event.

Tancredo was invited to speak by the University of North Carolina chapter of Youth for Western Civilization, a national group that opposes immigration, multiculturalism and affirmative action.

He told The News & Observer that he had never before been silenced by protesters.

"Fascists are fascists," Tancredo told the newspaper. "Their actions were probably the best speech I could every give. They are what's wrong with America today. When all you can do is yell epithets, that means you are intellectually bankrupt."