Around 10 protesters gathered outside Northrop Auditorium around 5 p.m. to protest Anthony Fauci’s lecture on the University of Minnesota campus, despite its cancellation earlier Tuesday afternoon. 

The protest was led by Action 4 Liberty, a Minnesota-based right-wing political organization, to speak out against Fauci’s involvement in national affairs during the Covid-19 pandemic, independent contractor for the organization Jesse Smith said. 

“We just wanted to make sure that people were able to speak their mind and contest the medical tyranny that we saw Fauci push,” Smith said.

A common concern was Fauci’s involvement with vaccine mandates. 

“The supposed vaccine really was an experimental shot,” Smith said. “It didn’t stop transmission and it didn’t stop people from catching it.”

The CDC said in a brief about vaccine effectiveness released  Feb. 1 that people who are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations were 54% less likely to get the illness.

Tom Cleland, a University alum and a supporter of presidential candidate Donald Trump and US Senate candidate Royce White, said mask mandates and lockdowns were a motivator for him to attend the protest.

“There were the masks, and we know that the virus particle is smaller than the weave of the mask,” Cleland said. “And then there were the lockdowns, which tanked the economy and were a way to get rid of Trump.”

A study published May 22 from the journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews said masking reduced the spread of Covid-19 by 85%.

According to a collection of studies published in the National Library of Medicine, of the 338 studies conducted, 79% proved social distancing measures substantially mitigated the spread of COVID-19.

Dylan Pekay, a member of the nationwide libertarian activism group Young Americans for Liberty, said he wasn’t concerned about the vaccine mandate, but felt lockdowns and online learning in schools negatively impacted students.

“The main thing I’m here for, which is fundamentally opposed to what Fauci did and what he advocated for, is the closing down of public schooling and otherwise online learning,” Pekay said. “Because I know that certainly stunted my growth and stunted the growth of those that were younger and older than me.”

The protest ended about an hour and a half early due to the lecture’s cancellation and low attendance.

Fauci’s lecture has yet to be rescheduled.