After acquittal, Kyle Rittenhouse opponents, supporters rally at ASU

by Adnan Alam
  • Slug: BC-CNS Rittenhouse Protest Photos, 260 words
  • 6 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

Ella Ho Ching
Cronkite News

TEMPE – More than 100 protesters gathered in the Arizona State University Nelson Fine Arts Center courtyard Wednesday demanding ASU bar Kyle Rittenhouse, though ASU officials say Rittenhouse isn’t enrolled and hasn’t applied for admission.

The group chanted “Killer Kyle off our campus!” as they were met with a crowd of Rittenhouse supporters of roughly equal size, who responded with the chant “Let’s go, Brandon,” a conservative rallying cry used as a stand-in for swearing at President Joe Biden.

Rittenhouse, 18, was acquitted last month in the killing of two people and the wounding of a third during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020. During his trial, he said he was “studying nursing” online at ASU. He later said in an interview that he intends to enroll for in-person classes at the school.

“Allowing Kyle Rittenhouse on campus is going to let right-wingers, predominantly white men like the ones here, harass minority students and have their way on campus,“ Daniel Lopez, a protest organizer from the Students for Socialism group at Arizona State University, said. “Our event today showed that it was important to stand up for this, to stand up to these people as a tight-knit community.”

Students for Socialism at ASU demanded the university bar Rittenhouse, denounce him and redirect funds from ASU police to the multicultural center on campus.

On Tuesday, an ASU spokesman would only say that Rittenhouse no longer is enrolled in the school’s online non-degree programs and, as of now, he has not applied for admission to a degree-seeking program.

Cronkite News reporter Simon Williams contributed to this story.

For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.

^__=

Daniel Lopez, one of the protest organizers from the Students for Socialism group at Arizona State University, chants with protesters demanding Kyle Rittenhouse be banned from campus while surrounded by people supporting Rittenhouse, who was acquitted last month in the killing of two people and the wounding of a third during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020. (Photo by Ella Ho Ching/Cronkite News)
A crowd defending Kyle Rittenhouse’s desire to attend Arizona State University closely follows Rittenhouse opponents through the ASU campus in Tempe chanting “U-S-A!” (Photo by Ella Ho Ching/Cronkite News)
A sign opposing gun control waves above the crowd of Kyle Rittenhouse supporters. (Photo by Ella Ho Ching/Cronkite News)
Matstaani Qureshi, co-president of the ASU Women’s Coalition and member of the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition, reiterates the ASU Students for Socialism’s demands, including barring Kyle Rittenhouse from ASU and reaffirming support for the multicultural center. (Photo by Ella Ho Ching/Cronkite News)
A protester holds a sign depicting Kyle Rittenhouse crying during his trial. (Photo by Ella Ho Ching/Cronkite News)
Daniel Lopez, a protest organizer from the Party of Socialism and Liberation and the ASU Students for Socialism group, stands in front of Tooker House, an ASU dorm, asking anti-Kyle Rittenhouse protesters to disperse as tensions escalate between opponents and supporters. (Photo by Ella Ho Ching/Cronkite News)