Free Speech?

The Oxford Union, that august body which supposedly represents the epitome of free speech, was on a loser to nothing.
They had invited David Irving - famous for his denial of the Holocaust - and leader of the British National Party Nick Griffin to a debate.
The President of the Union is quoted as saying he wanted to be able to demolish their arguments in open debate.
How naive.
Needless to say the gates to the building were besieged by protesters who opposed giving these people a platform to state their views.
Words like "fascist" were bandied about. Voices were raised. They were determined not to let the two men through - or any of the other people who had tickets to be there.
Personally I abhor Mr Griffin's party and all it stands for. As for Mr Irving - I don't know enough about the Holocaust to really know what happened. But in truth millions of innocent people were incarcerated, tortured and killed in the name of the Nazi state.
But is it democracy to shout down all with whom we disagree?
Aren't we supposed to be able to debate and decide?
I think that these two men's cases are strengthened by the protest. A much better way of dealing with them would have been to have listened in total silence to their cases and then voted them down unanimously. In a democracy all sides of the argument must be considered and then the voice of reason will really be seen to prevail.
THAT would have been real free speech.