The clash between police and protestors over the University’s pro-Palestinian encampment came to a head this afternoon, compelling authorities to remove the tents by force. After numerous warnings from Student Affairs and UPD that protestors violated University policy by erecting tents, state and local police donned riot shields to push them out of the area. Officers zip-tied and arrested at least twenty-five demonstrators, pepper spraying anyone that forcefully resisted their approach.
For the better part of a week, Palestinian supporters had settled beneath the Rotunda’s famed Gingko Tree in an area they called the “Liberated Zone 4 Gaza.” These protestors mostly kept to themselves: stretching out on blankets and discussing the situation in Palestine through masks. Somewhere between Thursday night and Friday morning, the university became aware—through security footage and eyewitness accounts—that these protestors had brought unassembled tents into the encampment. Until then, the University had allowed the camp to exist without interference. With the new possibility of rising tents, officials gave their first warning, which failed to deter the demonstrators.
Around sundown on Friday evening, protestors began chanting via megaphone while they set up a dozen tents in the “Liberated Zone.” Chief of University Police, Tim Longo, and Dean of Students, Cedric Rucker, arrived on the scene with another warning. Longo instructed a few group leaders that they had “fifteen minutes to remove the tents.” One such leader, a faculty member, responded with “if the University would just answer to our demands this would all be over”—the demands in question being that UVA “disclose and divest” its financial involvement in Israeli war efforts.
These faculty members returned to the encampment with the ultimatum but failed to remove the tents. Demonstrators attempted to prolong their fifteen minutes in various ways, at one point even claiming they had started a Jewish, Shabbat service. Police once again instructed them that failing to comply with these warnings would lead to removal by Facilities Management. A signing of No Trespass Orders by the tent owners would also be necessary. Revealing the presence of young children within the camp, protestors urged Longo to “tell the facilities people to go easy.”
After heavy rain delayed the situation until Saturday morning, protestors still refused to comply with police instruction. Around 11 A.M, state and local officers, as well as UPD, created a perimeter around the site to prevent anyone else from entering. Several protestors dug in around the encampment, locking arms, waving flags and brandishing umbrellas as makeshift shields. A crowd of curious students and protesters alike formed around the police perimeter as protestors shouted “UPD, KKK, IDF, they’re all the same!” Several demonstrators wearing all black outfits and N-95 masks, urged students to break through the human barricade. Carrying signs that read “State Police=KKK,” they waved along students who sprinted past police toward the line of resistance.
At this point, the UVA Emergency Alert System urged students to avoid the Rotunda, which seemingly had the opposite effect. By 2 P.M cries of “Disclose. Divest. We will not stop, we will not rest!” continued to thunder as counter protestors produced American and Israeli flags as well as their own responses. At this time, police emerged with riot shields, instructing those who remained in the camp that they were trespassing and would soon be forcefully removed.
Officers moved slowly toward the encampment as protestors held out umbrellas for protection. The two forces collided and the police swept through the tents, tearing them down from upright positions and dismantling every part of the settlement. Many fled and regrouped farther away, while others continued to push back against the officers and found themselves dragged from their tents and arrested. The line halted as a crowd of hundreds chanted “Why you wearing riot gear, I don’t see no riot here!” The protestors rebuilt their blockade, detached from the settlement, waving signs and refusing to disperse.
Around 3:30 P.M, officers attempted to sweep demonstrators off Grounds and into University Ave. They halted after each frontal push, presumably to allow the protestors to disperse on their own, and instructed them of their “unlawful assembly” before beginning once again. At a certain point, protestors began to push against the riot shields in order to overtake them, causing the police to respond by releasing pepper spray into the crowd.
Many tried to soothe their eyes with water and the crowd began to thin. By 5 P.M, the demonstrators had been pushed off University property where they eventually dispersed. Trash and debris from the encampment had been littered across the grass. Gradually the area grew silent, the police reopened University Ave., and only a mist of growing rain and pepper spray lingered in the air. Officers boarded University buses with their riot shields and left the site, now fenced off, for Facilities to sweep into trash bags.
On Saturday evening, President Jim Ryan released a statement, commenting on the day’s events. “We hoped and tried to handle this locally, ” Ryan said, “but when UPD’s attempts to resolve the situation were met with physical confrontation and attempted assault, it became necessary to rely on assistance from the Virginia State Police.” Ryan declared the situation to be “upsetting, frightening, and sad,” but shared his belief that the forced removal was “also an aberration.”
As the academic year draws to a close, questions continue to linger on how to heal this fractured community.
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