In a hastily written late night news release, the Hellenic Community of Vancouver announced that it will be cancelling a rental contract with the UBC Free Speech club.

The event which was supposed to take place on Friday, March 14th featured political commentators Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern.

The announcement claimed that the Hellenic community still stands by the principle of free speech but the decision was made with the safety of its members in mind.

“Specifically, threats of violence against our members by various political fringe groups and one domestic terrorist organization are now deemed very credible, and have escalated in the last 48 hours,” reads the statement. “We were, therefore, obligated to act immediately.”

Since the Hellenic Community of Vancouver was announced as the venue for the event, the St. Georges’s Greek Orthodox Church and community centre have been the victim of increasingly violent threats and actions by far-left extremists.

Groups like the Revolutionary Students Movement—Vancouver, and the Revolutionary Communists—Vancouver have conducted a persistent harassment and doxxing campaign intended on intimidating the Hellenic community into deplatforming the two right-wing speakers.

“Information has been transmitted to the Vancouver Police Department and there will be no further comment by the Hellenic Community of Vancouver on this matter,” said the Hellenic Community press release.

The Free Speech Club has announced that an alternative venue is in the works and that they intend on the event going on as planned.

“We are horrified to see this amazing community brought to its knees by violent thugs who threaten to harm anyone with a different opinion. Nonetheless, our show will go on in an undisclosed venue,” said Free Speech Club Director, Angelo Isidorou, who is a member of the Greek community.

The Free Speech Club has also hosted events with other free speech activists including Ben Shapiro and Dr. Jordan B. Peterson in the past.