They also arrested more than 100 other Hamas terrorist supporters. I guess this is why Washington University is now considered the ‘pro-Israel alternative’ to the Ivy League bastions of Islamic terrorism support, including Harvard, Columbia, Brown, and others.
St. Louis Today Police arrested dozens of pro-Palestine protesters who attempted to set up encampments Saturday on the campus of Washington University in the latest example of pushback by university administrators against demonstrations that have roiled academic institutions across the country.
Among those arrested and led away to waiting vans Saturday was Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, said Aldermanic President Megan Green, who participated in the protest. “We’re here to support the students who are standing up for our highest American values, for our democracy and for an end to this genocide which is unacceptable and a blight on this nation,” Stein told Cox in an interview before her arrest.
BREAKING: Jill Stein and her Campaign Manager and Deputy Campaign Manager, Jason Call and Kelly Merrill-Cayer, have been arrested at Washington University in St. Louis while supporting a protest against WashU’s ties to the war on Gaza.
Video from @KallieECox pic.twitter.com/rkUYC9b5Qx— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) April 28, 2024
The protesters were demanding an end to the war in Gaza and calling on the private university to cut all ties to Boeing Co., a major supplier of military equipment to Israel and leading employer in the St. Louis region.
Shortly before midnight, Washington University released a statement that said it had arrested more than 80 people who refused to leave campus. Those arrested may face trespassing charges and some could be charged with resisting arrest and assault for injuries to police officers, the university said. The university said the large group included students, employees and “many individuals not affiliated with the university.”
Green said she was dismayed at the police response to the protest, which she called “jovial” and “loving” before the arrests began. Green, along with Stein and St. Louis Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, sought to speak with university administrators to secure permission for the protest to continue peacefully. They were rebuffed by police on the scene.
From an interview before her arrest at Washington University: pic.twitter.com/IaaiWcpsIq
— Kallie Cox (@KallieECox) April 28, 2024
Earlier Saturday, activists said they launched the encampment following similar protests at Columbia University and other colleges and universities across the United States.
By 4 p.m., the protesters had pitched about 10 tents outside of Olin Library, where curious students studying inside watched through the library’s glass walls.
After police told the protesters to disperse, and warned of arrests, the protesters packed up their tents and then marched to Tisch Park, on the campus between Brookings Hall and Skinker Boulevard, where they set up the tents again.
Police followed the protesters to the new encampment site.
Many of the protesters chanted “WashU you can’t hide, you support a genocide” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” They also chanted “long live the Intifada,” referring to two uprisings of Palestinians in the late 1980s and early 2000s.
There has been no official finding that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza although South Africa has made such a claim at the International Court of Justice, which was rejected. The phrase “from the river to the sea” is widely seen as a call for the elimination of the state of Israel.
At 5:15 p.m., officers with the university’s police department gave the roughly 150 or so protesters who remained on campus a 10-minute warning, saying they would be arrested for trespassing and disruptive behavior unless they dispersed and left campus.
Protesters responded by sitting in a circle with arms locked, chanting “we’re not leaving.”
By 7:30 p.m., the arrests began. Every few minutes, the police would approach the remaining group of about 150 protesters, arrest a dozen or so, and lead them back to the waiting police vans, whittling down the protesters over the course of an hour.
St. Louis resident Kieron Kessler, 24, said they had attended several actions since the war in Gaza began and Washington University’s arrests of protesters was a “huge problem.”
Protesters are being arrested on college campuses even in “blue states” like New York and Massachusetts, so Kessler said there could be an even greater risk in Missouri, a “red state.”
“They just arrested their own students,” Kessler said of Washington University. “This is some Vietnam-era behavior.”
Saturday’s protest, which initially drew about 300 people, began at about 3 p.m. in Forest Park, just east of the university campus. The protesters briefly blocked traffic on Skinker Boulevard as they made their way to the Danforth Campus.
In a press release sent at 4 p.m., the activists listed five demands:
• Cut ties with Boeing, including banning the aerospace giant from recruitment events.
• Cut ties with Israeli educational institutions.
• Drop charges and suspensions stemming from earlier campus protests.
John1 says
We need to promote her, especially in MI. She’ll draw votes from Biden.
Thomas Richard says
Throw the bums into prison farms where they can shovel manure from the cow barns…..and the non citizens can be deported post haste! Arrest Soros for public mischief! And bill him for the police overtime!
Steve says
Asking for a friend in India who’s curious about why there seem to be many insincere activists and protesters in Western countries. She wonders how these individuals have so much free time.
In the third-world, life is often a struggle. Even relatively well-off people face challenges. There’s no guarantee of regular meals or access to medical insurance. If you don’t work hard, survival becomes difficult—similar to the harsh conditions depicted in Charles Dickens’ England.
BareNakedIslam says
Actually, a lot of these protesters are being well paid by billionaire Israel/America-haters like George Soros.
Ron Toeller says
These people who leave senseless remarks… *“They just arrested their own students,” Kessler said of Washington University. “This is some Vietnam-era behavior.”* need to educate themselves.
ross says
Fking scum of the Earth these pro-jihadi dregs are, and I so wish billy clubs were still in vogue. Sorry, I just believe so. 😉
BareNakedIslam says
No need to apologize. We agree.