OAN’s James Meyers
8:23 AM – Monday, April 22, 2024
Police clashed with students at Yale University’s Connecticut campus on Monday morning and began arresting students who had been staging an anti-Israel protest for several days.
Video footage posted online showed police arriving and blocking off entrances to a plaza at the New Haven campus, where an estimated 200 protesters had been gathered.
Cops told students that they would be arrested if they continued to protest and not leave, according to the Yale Daily News.
Meanwhile, dozens of protesters were handcuffed for trespassing and taken away on Yale University shuttle buses.
During the arrests, protesters could be heard yelling at the Yale Police Department (YPD), “YPD or KKK, IDF they’re all the same!” and chanting, “Arab blood is not cheap, for the martyrs we will speak!”
Authorities cleared the plaza and encampment of student protesters at around 8 a.m.
The latest campus clear-out comes after protests at Yale turned violent over the weekend when a Jewish student was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag on Saturday night.
Sahar Tartak, editor-in-chief of the Yale Free Press, was covering the protest when she was suddenly swarmed by protesters.
“There’s hundreds of people taunting me and waving the middle finger at me, and then this person waves a Palestinian flag in my face and jabs it in my eye,” Tartak told the New York Post.
“When I tried to yell and go after him, the protesters got in a line and stopped me.”
After the brutal incident, Yale president Peter Salovey responded by sending all students an email on Sunday night, saying that the university “will pursue disciplinary actions according to its policies” amid the ongoing demonstrations.
“Many of the students participating in the protests, including those conducting counterprotests, have done so peacefully. However, I am aware of reports of egregious behavior, such as intimidation and harassment, pushing those in crowds, removal of the plaza flag, and other harmful acts,” he wrote.
“Yale does not tolerate actions, including remarks, that threaten, harass, or intimidate members of the university’s Jewish, Muslim, and other communities.
“The Yale Police Department is investigating each report, and we will take action when appropriate, including making referrals for student discipline.”
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