by YASH ROY This article was originally posted to New Haven Independent
… after Yale PD issued dispersal warnings early Tuesday morning.
(Updated 8:12 a.m., Tuesday, April 30, with university comment) Yale and city police cleared another pro-Palestinian tent encampment from the university’s downtown campus early Tuesday morning — but this time, there were no arrests.
Close to 50 Yale and New Haven police officers descended on Yale’s Cross Campus a little after 6 a.m. to start the process of removing roughly 40 tents that had been standing since Sunday afternoon as part of the latest campus protest over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The police clearing of the Cross Campus tent encampment comes eight days after police cleared a similar tent encampment from Beinecke Plaza early last Monday morning. As part of that earlier clearing, Yale police arrested a total of 48 people — including 44 Yale students — who had refused to move out of the now-cleared encampment, charging them each with criminal trespassing.
On Tuesday morning, no arrests appeared to be made. That’s because, according to the Cross Campus encampment’s organizers, a group called OccupyYale, all protesters had already left the tents.
Yale Police Department (YPD) Chief Anthony Campell issued all three dispersal warnings starting at 6:20 a.m. He also told students they could face emergency suspension per university regulations.
According to YPD Lt. Sabrina Wood, the tents will be taken down by Yale facilities or maintenance workers. Wood also said that Yale police officers are sifting through belongings in the encampment, searching for valuables, phones, computers, and medication, which people will be able to retrieve from the YPD’s headquarters on Ashmun Street later this afternoon.
As of 7 a.m., Yale PD had shut down the entirety of Cross Campus, including Alexander Walk.
As of 7:29 a.m., New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson confirmed that there have not been any arrests made so far.
Soon before 8 a.m., Yale facilities and maintenance workers began physically removing the empty tents.
New Haven Police Department spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart told the Independent that there were 26 New Haven police officers and three motorcycles on scene as YPD Chief Campbell had requested assistance from the NHPD.
A little after 6:30 a.m., police then moved students and protesters who had left the encampment over College Street.
“This lawn is still Yale property, you must leave or you will be arrested,” Campbell said to chants of “Shame!” from the crowd.
“Chief Campbell, history will remember you with shame,” the crowd chanted.
Soon after 8 a.m., a university spokesperson provided the Independent with a written comment confirming that the Cross Campus protesters were told to end the encampment or face discipline, “including suspension for violating university rules and arrest for trespassing. All the protesters chose to leave the encampment, and the university is in the process of clearing tents and other items from the area.”
The university’s statement continued: “Over the past several days, administrators communicated to protesters that their encampment and activities violated the university’s policies and were disrupting academic and university operations. Several attempts by Pericles Lewis, Dean of Yale College, to convince the protestors that they had other means besides occupying Cross Campus to get their message heard were unsuccessful. The tent encampment was located near student dorms, libraries, and classrooms, where many students are writing their final papers and studying for final exams.”
The spokesperson stated that Yale “fully supports peaceful protests and freedom of speech; however, claiming control of our shared space is inconsistent with our principles and values.”
Click here and here for details on the university’s guidance around free expression, peaceable assembly, and on-campus outdoor spaces.
Tuesday morning’s tent encampment clearing at Yale took place at the same time that pro-Palestinian protests appeared to escalate dramatically at Columbia University in New York City, where students occupied a campus building after the university’s administration began suspending encampment protesters.
