At least 45 arrested at Yale after riot police storm campus during pro-Palestine protest
Riot police stormed the campus on Monday
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At least 45 people have been arrested at Yale University after police in riot gear stormed the campus during a pro-Palestinian protest on Monday.
The arrests happened after nearly 200 pro-Palestine protestors gathered on campus to urge Yale to divest from military weapons manufacturers, accordig to the student newspaper, Yale Daily News.
The protestors have been camped out on Beinecke Plaza on the university’s campus for three days.
Police officers first began by warning protestors that they risked being arrested if they didn’t clear out before handcuffing and arresting people including students, the student paper reported.
Those arrested were removed on Yale University shuttle buses. Journalists from the Yale Daily News were also threatened with arrest if they did not move from the plaza, according to its reports.
Video footage from the demonstration, posted to X, showed a group of protestors locking arms around a flag pole as police descended on the campus.
The protestors could be heard singing “We shall not be moved” as officers checked the dozens of tents erected in the plaza and blocked entrances to the campus.
Protesters could also be heard chanting “We will free Palestine within our lifetime” and “Books not bombs,” according to reports.
The protestors are being charged with trespassing in the first degree, Yale Daily News reported.
Yale president Peter Salovey sent students an email on Sunday warning the school “will pursue disciplinary actions according to its policies” amid ongoing demonstrations.
“Many of the students participating in the protests, including those conducting counterprotests, have done so peacefully. However, I am aware of reports of egregious behavior, such as intimidation and harassment, pushing those in crowds, removal of the plaza flag, and other harmful acts,” he wrote.
“Yale does not tolerate actions, including remarks, that threaten, harass, or intimidate members of the university’s Jewish, Muslim, and other communities,” he continued.
It comes after more than 100 protesters were detained in New York last week when the NYPD was called in to clear out a similar protest at Columbia University.
Student demonstrators had been demanding that the university divest from “companies complicit in genocide” when police stormed onto the campus and arrested more than 100 people, dismantling the protest camp. Protesters began rebuilding the camp the following day.
The daughter of Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Isra Hirsi, was among those arrested. She was later suspended from the university.
“In my 3 years at @BarnardCollege I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings,” Isra Hirsi, who is an organiser for Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest group, wrote on X.
“I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.”
She continued: “Those of us in Gaza Solidarity Encampment will not be intimidated. We will stand resolute until our demands are met.
“Our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of @Columbia’s investments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression.”
Police said 108 people, including Ms Hirsi, were charged with trespassing at the Ivy League school. Two people were also charged with obstructing government administration.
Columbia announced on Monday that classes would be held virtually and asked students, faculty and staff to avoid the campus if possible.
Tensions have been high across some US colleges, schools and workplaces since the 7 October terror attack on Israel by Hamas, and Israel’s subsequent war on Hamas in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.