BOSTON – Boston Police arrested more than 100 people as they cleared out pro-Palestinian protesters and their encampment from Emerson College early Thursday morning.
108 arrests at Emerson College, 4 Boston police officers hurt
“108 arrests,” a Boston Police spokesperson told WBZ-TV in an email. “4 injured officers, 3 minor, 1 more serious. All non-life threatening.”
Police said none of the protesters in custody have reported any injuries “at this time.” All of them will be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court.
Emerson students started camping out in the 2B Alley off Boylston Street late Sunday night and had remained there for three days. Boston Police warned them Wednesday that they were violating city ordinances in the alley, which is not solely owned by Emerson College.
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Emerson College protesters warned
The student protesters stayed in the alley until Boston police officers moved in around 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Police reportedly warned them to leave and many who didn’t leave were arrested.
“These students they were protesting peacefully at night, chanting their slogans,” Emerson College student Kyle Graff told WBZ-TV. “They refused to comply with the police, and within 5, 10 minutes the police vans, they pulled up and they started forcing their way into the encampment, and basically taking these students away.”
“Dragging people out”
Another Emerson student, who did not want to be identified, described to WBZ what he saw Thursday morning.
“They kept being like, this is your last chance. If you are here you will be arrested. But they didn’t start saying things like that until after they had already like started grabbing and dragging people out. It was not so much a last chance of not being arrested more so, a last chance of not being brutalized,” he said. Â
“Seeing, like handcuffs on the officers’ belts. There were people getting thrown down to the ground, arms put behind their back, dragged away, pushed away. Just really, however, they could, however, the police could get them out of the alley as quick as possible, without much regard for the safety of those they were removing.”
Henry De Groot – DSA Working Mass
Boston Police and the Public Works Department later cleared out the alley, removed all tents, signs and banners and re-opened that section of Boylston Street.
There has been no official statement yet from Emerson College.
A message sent to students Thursday said classes were canceled for the day.
“Emerson College remains steadfast in its support of community members’ right to peacefully protest. However, we must also emphasize that we cannot prevent the enforcement of Boston city ordinances or Massachusetts state law. We strongly urge the protestors and their supporters to immediately comply with these laws to avoid legal consequences beyond the College’s authority or control,” Emerson College President Jay Bernhardt said in a letter to the school Wednesday.Â
Other Boston protests
The protest at Emerson was just one of several at college campuses across the country this week. They were inspired by pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University that began back on April 17. More than 100 people were arrested at Columbia.
Pro-Palestinian camps have been set up at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University and Harvard University in the Boston area. All three camps remained active as of Thursday morning.
A group of students at Northeastern University started a protest on campus Thursday, according to the student newspaper.