Police arrested at least 25 pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on Saturday after allegedly aggressively removing protesters from the university's lawn and at one point using chemical irritants on dozens of people. I was arrested.
Like hundreds of students, faculty and staff across the country, Charlottesville students protested in the heart of campus this week, demanding the university divest from companies with ties to Israel, weapons manufacturers and Israeli institutions. , called for a pledge to protect students. The right to peacefully protest. The tents were set up on Friday but taken down the next day.
The university said in a news release that protesters violated school rules on Friday, including setting up tents on the lawn and using megaphones. However, the statement said, “Due to the continuing peaceful behavior, the presence of young children at the demonstration site, and heavy rain on Friday night, no forced removal was carried out at that time.” .
University President Jim Ryan wrote in a letter to the campus: We have no choice but to support the neutral application and enforcement of these rules. ”
By Saturday afternoon, protesters were greeted by police in riot gear. At one point, police used chemical irritants on the crowd to disperse people.
The university said it was not immediately clear how many of the 25 people arrested were affiliated with the school. All were charged with trespassing, police officials said.
“Shame, shame!” A combined force of dozens of officers from at least three law enforcement agencies led a crowd of several hundred students and Charlottesville locals to the front of the university's Rotunda building. Students chanted chants as they pushed into the street.
“This is absolutely despicable,” said Colden Dorfman, a third-year computer science major who stood behind the cordon as police sprayed chemical irritants. “This is insanity. Everyone came here with peaceful intentions. It's shameful that our police force is being used for purposes like this.”
Some protesters and their supporters have criticized the magnitude of the police response, especially compared to the school's response to hundreds of white supremacists marching with torches through campus in 2017. Some people had direct doubts.
“What did you do when the KKK came to town?” demonstrators could be heard shouting as police tried to force them onto University Avenue, which was blocked off to traffic.
Even though it started raining, several hundred people remained for several hours before dispersing. Some headed to Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, where a new protest movement was forming.
