A man was arrested twice Thursday at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia, after touting a sign that featured a racist slur. He had created a disturbance as he repeatedly shouted and held up his sign near the college's main entrance by the James Branch Cabell Library. The incident attracted a large crowd of about 200 people.

Tyler Lloyd, 27, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of trespassing. Campus police asked Lloyd to evacuate the premises, but he had refused. Lloyd, who isn't affiliated with the university, returned to VCU's campus Thursday after he was released from jail and was arrested a second time for refusing to leave.

"2018 New Year's resolution for Black guys: Prevent n—ga moments," Lloyd's sign read. Several students that gathered around Lloyd as he protested on campus told him that his sign was "hateful," to which he responded: "If you can't address the word n——r, you're the one being hateful."

"Police advised the man that he was causing a disruption to operations and asked him to leave VCU property," the VCU Police Department said Thursday to the college's newspaper The Commonwealth Times. "When he refused, he was arrested."

VCU Police stood between the man and the crowd of students to help facilitate order, but Officer J. Malone eventually instructed the students to return to class. He claimed that the students were only "fueling" the situation.

"I understand you are upset — I totally understand," the officer said. "But at the same time...the only thing you're doing right now [is] you're fueling this. That's all you're doing. So I tell you what, bottom line: you can say what you want, but...everyone has the right to say what they want. I don't have to like it. Nobody has to like it."

"If you really want to do something about this, do it the right way. The only thing you're doing right now is feeding this man's ego," Malone added.

Lloyd was arrested for the first time shortly after this. However, he returned to campus later that afternoon with a different sign, which read: "Why is it that only students have FREEDOM here."

"[Lloyd] was again arrested for trespassing," a police spokesperson said Thursday to CBS affiliate WTVR. "Lloyd is not a VCU student or employee."

This wasn't Lloyd's first time protesting on VCU's campus. Confrontations between Lloyd and others escalated significantly to the point where police were forced to intervene a few weeks back, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Law enforcement had never detained or arrested him before, however.

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