Law enforcement authorities initiated the removal of anti-Israel demonstrators from an encampment on Yale University’s campus early Monday following a week of protests urging the university to divest from military weapon manufacturers.
According to the Yale Daily News, at least 16 protesters were apprehended as police conducted searches through tents set up in the encampment at Beinecke Plaza, where over 250 demonstrators had gathered Sunday night.
Protest organizers informed the paper that some of those arrested were students.
A member of the Yale Police Department informed the Yale Daily News that the detained protesters would be documented and subsequently released.
Police had been seen eradicating pro-Palestinian protesters camped out on Yale’s campus on Monday. (WTIC)
As police cleared the protesters from the area, a crowd of 200 demonstrators gathered at the intersection of Grove and College Streets, as reported by the university newspaper. Video footage from the scene depicts individuals in the group holding signs that read “Free Palestine” and chanting, “We shall not be moved.”
Amidst the protests over the weekend, Sahar Tartak, a Jewish student journalist serving as editor-in-chief of the Yale Free Press, recounted being surrounded by a group of protesters and struck in the eye by an individual wielding a Palestinian flag.
“One of the students, with their face covered by a keffiyeh, grabbed a Palestinian flag, waved it in front of me, and struck my left eye,” Tartak recounted to Foxiz News.
Police had been seen eradicating pro-Palestinian protesters camped out on Yale’s campus on Monday. (WTIC)
The expulsion of the protesters follows a similar incident involving anti-Israel demonstrators at Columbia University’s campus in New York City last Thursday. At least 108 anti-Israel activists were detained as law enforcement disbanded the encampment.
Students at Columbia received an overnight notification stating that all classes would be conducted virtually on Monday due to anti-Israel protesters occupying the campus with another encampment.
Professional-Palestinian protesters on Yale’s campus on Monday morning. (WTIC)
Demonstrations of this nature have proliferated across college campuses in recent months, stemming from opposition to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. This offensive was itself prompted by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 individuals and the taking of around 240 hostages.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 34,097 Palestinians and injured another 76,980. However, Israel has contested these figures, asserting that the ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its tally.
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