Police officers stormed the usually quiet campus of Emory University in Atlanta on Thursday, using what their department later described as “chemical irritants” to help subdue protesters. It was one of the latest confrontations between police forces and a pro-Palestinian protest movement that has spread across American universities.
More than 400 protesters have been detained by police on campuses across the country since April 18, when the arrests of more than 100 protesters at Columbia University in New York sparked a new wave of student activism.
Administrators have responded by calling authorities, eliminating camps, scaling back graduation plans and threatening academic consequences. The crackdown comes as some politicians have demanded a stronger response, saying the rhetoric and actions of some protesters endanger Jewish students.
Boston police arrested 108 protesters at Emerson College on Wednesday night, just hours after Los Angeles police arrested 93 people who had refused to disperse on the University of Southern California campus. In each case, it was unclear how many of the arrested protesters were students.
Earlier Wednesday, dozens of police officers, many in riot gear and some on horseback, arrested 57 people at the University of Texas at Austin. A school spokesman said about half of those arrested were not affiliated with the university, and Diana Melendez, a spokeswoman for the county attorney’s office, said charges against many had been dropped after the office found “deficiencies.” “legal in their arrests.
On Thursday morning at Emory, protesters screamed as police wrestled with protesters on the ground and escorted others away. Protesters accused officers of using pepper spray and tear gas to break up the camp they had set up a few hours earlier.
The Atlanta Police Department said in a statement that its officers had “used chemical irritants during the incident.” The department did not answer questions about what type of irritant it used, but the Georgia State Patrol separately said its officers used pepper balls for crowd control. He denied using tear gas.
Separately, video footage reviewed by The New York Times showed a police officer using a stun device on a protester who was on the ground. State authorities, in a statement Thursday night, said the protester had “actively resisted arrest.”
Emory Vice President of Public Safety Cheryl Elliott said at least 28 people had been arrested, including 20 with ties to the school, a striking departure from the university’s suggestion earlier Thursday that no one involved in the camp was affiliated. to Emory.
As universities struggled to quell the unrest, some lawmakers called for stronger tactics, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who during a visit to Columbia on Wednesday called on the White House to take action and said it should eventually consider the use of military force.
Universities have deployed police and suspended students under pressure from those lawmakers, as well as donors and alumni, who have called the demonstrations anti-Semitic.
Still, new protests continue to break out. Many student activists say they are motivated by the crackdown on largely peaceful protests on other campuses and want their universities to sever financial ties with companies that protesters say make weapons used against Palestinians.
“We have to do everything we can, despite state or university repression to try to shut us down,” said Bella Montealegre, an Emory student who said “solidarity with Columbia” had attracted many of her classmates. class to the protest area. . “We must continue to be steadfast towards Palestinian freedom.”
J. David Goodman, Sean Keenan and Juan Yoon contributed with reports.
