A beautiful spring morning on Emory University’s campus was shattered as the central quad’s famous marbled facades echoed with screams and sobs when law enforcement cracked down on pro-Palestinian supporters.
285 South witnessed multiple protesters being arrested by law enforcement officers on Thursday morning around 10:30. There was the sound of pepper balls being shot towards protesters and a video has emerged on social media of what appears to be a law enforcement officer pressing a taser into the leg of a handcuffed man.
Students and activists wanted the quad to become the site of a pro-Gaza encampment, mirroring similar actions at universities across the country. Earlier in the morning, when 285 South arrived at the scene, protesters had set up tents, tables with pamphlets and a food station, complete with granola bars, apples, and drinks, preparing themselves for a camp-out which they hoped would last for days.
It would be over in a few short hours.
Umaymah Mohammad, a Palestinian-American graduate student at Emory, had arrived around 7:30 am, to start setting up the encampment. “Right when we got there, police started showing up,” she said.
About two hours later, she stood in front of dozens of people, many clad in black and white keffiyehs, with a microphone in her hand. “Every day I wake up in absolute disbelief that this is the world we live in, that this is the world we built for each other,” she said, her voice cracking.
Keyanna Jones, a member of the Black clergy, spoke after her, drawing connections between police violence in Atlanta and violence against Palestinians. “I stand here to call on my fellow clergy members and so-called people of faith, don’t leave these students out here stranded by themselves…hands off Palestine and hands off these students,” she said, shortly before concluding the press conference.
Minutes later, lines of police and state troopers filed in around the quadrangle. Many protesters backed away, looking to escape, but law enforcement quickly moved in, firing pepper balls, bundling people to the ground and zip-tying them. Tents and tables collapsed as struggles broke out on the grass. One student argued with an officer as he tied her hands. “Why are you doing this? I go to this school! I have a right to be here!” she exclaimed.
In one video that has been circulated widely on social media, a law enforcement officer appears to be pressing a taser to the leg of a black man who was on the ground, held down by two other officers, his wrists handcuffed.
Emory released a statement saying that “several dozen” protesters were not university students, but were trespassers, and that that had informed their decision to call in Atlanta Police Department and Georgia State Patrol. 285 South can confirm that a large number of the protesters were indeed students at the University.
After the quad had been mostly cleared, on the other side of the Michael C. Carlos Museum, and as students spilled out of their classes, a large crowd of around 100 people gathered, shouting slogans at law enforcement officers as they prepared to load those who had been arrested into police vans.
“Let them go, let them go,” they shouted.
The chaos continued outside campus at Emory Village, when a white minivan appeared to stall, hindering a City of Atlanta Department of Corrections bus from passing through a traffic circle. An Emory Police SUV, apparently believing the minivan was purposefully stopping the bus, gave chase, but the minivan escaped, scooting behind the Jimmy Johns.
Dr. James Hoestery, an Associate Professor in Emory’s Religion Department, was in a faculty meeting when he and his colleagues heard the chaos in the Quad. As he and other faculty approached the police line, he was challenged by a state trooper. “I’m going to tell you to leave before you get locked up,” the trooper ordered. “We work here… this is our workplace,” said another professor, also with the Religion Department. “I just came out of a meeting. I came out because I saw what appeared to be tear gas,” Dr. Hoestery told the trooper. “Well then it’s probably a good idea that you go back to that meeting,” the trooper responded, speaking over him.
A student standing behind the group was listening in, and crying.
“I’ve been here 12 years, and I’ve never been as ashamed of this campus,” said Dr. Hoestry to a group of reporters, after the trooper had walked away.
