Protester pelts Martin Shkreli with poop

Martin Shkreli (Reuters)

'Pharma bro' Martin Shkreli has been pelted with faeces during a protest at a university in California.

The controversial former pharmaceutical executive was due to speak at UC Davis with extreme right-wing author Milo Yiannopoulos on Friday (local time), but the event was cancelled after protesters blocked access to the venue.

Video shows one of the protesters throwing what appears to be faeces at Mr Shkreli, calling him a "piece of s**t".

Mr Shkreli shot to notoriety when in 2015 he purchased the rights to a life-saving drug and raised the price from US$13.50 to US$750. He later went on to spend US$2 million on the only copy ever released of an album by rap group the Wu-Tang Clan.

Mr Yiannopoulos is part of the alt-right movement, which the Anti-Defamation League says embraces "implicit or explicit racism or white supremacy" and backed Donald Trump's presidential bid.

Mr Yiannopoulos said the event was cancelled due to "violence from left-wing protesters" and "smashed windows and barricades being torn away", but police said there was only one arrest and the university said no property was damaged.

The university's magazine, The California Aggie, the next day carried an editorial calling Mr Yiannopoulos "a hateful spectacle" and criticised the university's Republican club for inviting him to speak.

UC Davis itself encouraged peaceful protest, with the chancellor saying the board was "deeply offended by the ignorant rhetoric championed by Yiannopolous and his followers".

Both Mr Yiannopoulos and Mr Shkreli have recently been suspended from social networking site Twitter - Mr Yiannopoulos for racially abusing Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, and Mr Shkreli for harassing a journalist.

Newshub.

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