Police clear University of Chicago camp for Palestine | Evening overview

University of Chicago police began forcibly clearing the pro-Palestinian student camp early Tuesday morning.

Shortly before 5 a.m. on May 7, police in riot gear surrounded the campus’s main square, where hundreds of protesters had been camped for a week to demand that the university distance itself from the weapons manufacturers supporting Israel in its war on Gaza arm, and the country as a whole cuts ties with Israel.

While some officers blocked all entrances to the courtyard, others entered the camp and tore down the students’ wooden barricades, fences, tents and banners. Students, faculty and other supporters were removed from the quad while teams disposed of camp materials.

“They were waiting for these children to fall asleep. And then they pulled the tents away while they were sleeping,” Eman Abdelhadi, a Palestinian professor at the University of California, wrote on social media during the camp evacuation. “The purpose of this raid was terror.”

During the raid, student protesters, many visibly distraught, gathered at the edges of the camp, now barricaded by police, chanting “UChicago hates its students” and “40,000 people are dead, you’re attacking children instead.”

Within an hour, UCPD officers began distributing final notices to the remaining student protesters, warning them of arrest for trespassing and forced suspension if they did not leave the area. An immediate emergency leave of absence means protesters would be forced to leave student accommodation and would not be allowed to return to campus for classes or activities until permission from the university.

In a statement to the campus community this morningU. of C. President Paul Alivisatos said that although protest is a “strongly protected” form of free expression, the camp is the “freedom of expression, learning and work of others.”

“Security concerns have increased in recent days and risks have increased too quickly for the status quo to continue.” he continued. “The university remains a place where dissenting voices have many opportunities to express themselves, but we cannot create an environment in which the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest.”

The raid comes just seven days after students set up camp on part of the main square. Organized by the student group University of Chicago United for Palestine (UCUP), it was under the more than 40 campus camps that have sprung up across the country in recent weeks at places like Yale, Columbia and the University of California, Los Angeles – and some were later destroyed.

Student organizers and faculty supporters had feared a nighttime police raid on the camp since Sunday evening after talks with university management failed in the afternoon. That same day, Chicago police dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment in front of the Art Institute of Chicago that had been set up by a student group from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago arrested According to Block Club, there were 68 protesters.

The conversations began last Wednesday and lasted much of the weekend. But in a statement Approved On Sunday, the university said: “The demonstrators’ demands were contrary to the university’s policies and discussions were suspended.”

The story develops.