Opinion: I was present at the UMass police action and it was a disgrace

Here is my personal report on yesterday’s police operation at UMass.

I arrived at the UMass Palestine camp yesterday (July 5) around 4 p.m. At that time, a group of students, faculty and community members gathered around a small tent camp set up between two trees. There was a lot of singing, drumming and dancing. There were many children as well as babies and dogs present. At one point, an 11-year-old boy wearing a Palestinian flag as a cape led the group in lively chants that inspired everyone. There was a medical table, food tables, lots of signs and a “people’s library.”

The students were at the time in negotiations with the chancellor’s staff over their demands, which included divesting UMass from Israel and dropping charges against UMass 57.

While negotiations were underway, the government called in state police and UMass police, who gathered in front of the Whitmore Administration Building.

When the students returned to report on their negotiations, they said that Chancellor Reyes had indicated that he could not respond to any of their demands and that if they did not dismantle the camp they would be trespassing and risk arrest. One of the students, a Palestinian, said that someone on the UMass negotiation team actually called her “sweetheart,” and a student of color said he was constantly interrupted or not allowed to speak compared to his white colleagues on the team.

Shortly after receiving the negotiating team’s report, a representative from the university arrived with a megaphone to deliver the university’s disbursement order both verbally and in writing. It had essentially the same message: Destroy the camp and leave or you will be arrested.

Most people stayed, but also spread out on the lawn according to their risk tolerance. There was a call for everyone to call and email Chancellor Reyes and ask him to comply with the students’ demands and not to arrest people, which many did. Organizers asked participants to call their friends, family and community members to support the camp, which we all did.

At around 7:15 p.m., police negotiated with the protesters’ police liaison and police said they would issue their formal withdrawal order at 7:25 p.m., which they did.

The arrests began around 7:40 a.m. when a phalanx of state troopers in riot gear and UMass police officers marched into the camp, arresting and detaining students, faculty and community members.

I left around 8pm but returned later at 10:30pm and the arrests were still in progress. At this point, all of the police brutality, which has been widely documented on social media, was in full swing and the group of protesters still in the camp was very small and surrounded by a police cordon (still hundreds despite the late hour). completely isolated from us supporters). University facilities personnel were called in and demolished the warehouse and loaded it into the trucks/dustbins. They took a single Palestinian flag and smashed it to loud boos from the crowd.

We stayed until the bitter end, until every arrest was made, professing our love and support for the arrested protesters, affirming support for Gaza, and calling for an end to the genocide. Common chants included: “45,000 people dead, arrest us instead!” and “Disclosure, divestment, we will not stop, we will not rest!”

I saw some students there who seemed to have just discovered the protests (not participating in them) and were shocked to see their fellow students being violently arrested.

Four fellow mothers I know from the community were arrested at the protest, two of whom were of Palestinian descent.

I am completely outraged by the university’s response to Chancellor Reyes and agree that Reyes should resign for inciting a violent police attack on a peaceful, beautiful, communal protest. They are the ones who are violent, not us. On a beautiful spring day, many people gather on campus, but only those who express themselves peacefully in politics are violently evicted and arrested. This is an attack on free speech and academic freedom at our public university. It’s a total disgrace.

Amber Cano Martin is a resident of Amherst District 2 and ran for Amherst City Council in the November election.