University of Georgia law enforcement and Georgia State Patrol arrested pro-Hamas protesters during an anti-Israel demonstration at the Athens campus. The activists were part of Students for Justice of Palestine.
The protesters staged their demonstration on Monday morning to urge the university to cut ties with Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
According to a statement from the group, they set up the encampment to “demand university solidarity, protection, and the disclosure and divestment of financial relationships with zionist organizations.”
“Our universities have chosen profit over the lives of the Palestinian people and the overwhelming force of student opinion. Our administrators are more concerned with maintaining their prestigious reputations than the Israeli occupation’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinians,” the group wrote. “Their supposed power is nothing compared to the united strength of students, faculty, and staff committed to realizing justice and upholding Palestinian liberation on campus.”
Around two dozen protesters were part of the encampment and refused to follow orders from campus police to remove their tents and leave the area.
University of Georgia spokesman Greg Trevor released a statement explaining that the students were repeatedly warned that “the tens and barricades they had put in place had to be removed and that they must comply with applicable policies.”
He noted that the students “were also given the opportunity by Student Affairs personnel to make a reservation and relocate to one of our centrally designated forums, but they refused.”
Due to the group’s refusal, law enforcement was called in to disperse the protesters.
Trevor affirmed that the university “supports freedom of expression” but stressed that it “will not cede control of our campus to groups that refuse to abide by University policy and threaten the safety of those who live, work and study here.”
The demonstration comes only days after another protest at Emory University was broken up by law enforcement. In this case, police arrested 15 people who were involved.
The 28 people arrested after clashing with law enforcement on the campus of Emory University on Thursday will get out of jail on a signature bond — meaning they won’t have to put up any money to secure their release.
A judge made the announcement before setting conditions for the defendants’ release at a hearing Friday morning.
At least 20 of the 28 arrestees were members of the Emory community, including students and faculty members, one of them a professor.
The arrests came during on-campus protests involving the war between Israel and Hamas. According to Emory University officials, protesters threw objects at police officers who asked them to leave the campus. Police used handcuffs, zip ties, stun guns, and physical force to get some of the offenders into custody, Emory officials said.
Protesters pitched tents in the school’s Quad around 7:40 a.m. Some protesters were seen holding “Stop Cop City” signs referencing the upcoming police training center, while other areas showed items laid out on the lawn that resemble bloody bodies in reference to the ongoing war.
Emory said the school’s police department told the group to leave and called Atlanta police and state patrol for help.
Some of the participants laid items out on the lawn that resembled “bloody bodies in reference to the ongoing war.”
The school released a statement saying that “[t]hese individuals are not members of our community” and that “[t]hey are activists attempting to disrupt our university as our students finish classes and prepare for finals.”
These demonstrations mirror those at other universities such as Columbia and Yale. Columbia University, in particular, has been a primary focal point for pro-Hamas protests. The school has unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with protesters who formed an encampment on campus. The school recently suspended students involved in the demonstrations after negotiations broke down.
