Imagine a university debate spiraling into chaos with smoke bombs, fireworks, and injured police officers—all because of a speaker’s conservative views on transgender issues.
According to the New York Post, conservative podcaster Michael Knowles will share his harrowing experience of facing violent protests at the University of Pittsburgh during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution hearing on Tuesday, October 31, 2023, as part of a broader discussion on rising political violence led by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) following the tragic assassination of activist Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2023.
Knowles, known for his sharp wit as host of a Daily Wire show and author of the satirical blank book “Reasons to Vote for Democrats,” was invited to debate transgenderism at the university’s O’Hara Student Center in 2023.
The event quickly turned ugly as between 300 and 350 protesters, many masked and clad in black, swarmed the venue in a display of coordinated disruption.
Some agitators took their hostility to a chilling level by burning an effigy of Knowles, while others hurled smoke bombs at police barricades and blocked nearby roads.
The chaos forced surrounding buildings into a “soft lockdown” and prompted the campus to issue a “safety emergency” notification as the situation spiraled out of control.
Amid the turmoil, a protester later identified as Antifa operative Brian DiPippa threw a lit firework into a group of police officers guarding the rear of the building.
The resulting explosion caused serious injuries to several officers, including life-altering harm to a female officer, in an act that shocked even the most hardened observers of campus protests.
Inside the auditorium, Knowles faced constant interruptions from hecklers shouting phrases like “Trans lives matter,” ultimately forcing the debate to end prematurely.
Reflecting on the incident, Knowles noted, “Before we reached the stage, we heard an explosion, which caused our security personnel to escort us back into the wings.”
That explosion, as Knowles later detailed, was no minor disturbance but a deliberate attack on law enforcement, highlighting a dangerous trend of escalating aggression at such events.
Knowles didn’t hold back on the broader implications, stating, “While Democrat politicians and liberal journalists have sought to downplay and even deny the existence of organized, left-wing terror, the attack at the University of Pittsburgh provides just one example among countless of serious and increasing leftist terrorism.”
FBI agents at the scene identified DiPippa and his wife, Krystal, as key figures in the unrest, with Brian hiding behind Krystal before launching one of the smoke bombs.
Yet, the legal consequences were surprisingly light—Brian received minimal jail time for “obstructing law enforcement,” while Krystal was sentenced to mere probation, raising questions about whether the punishment fits the crime in cases of political violence.