Police cleared a pro-Palestinian campsite at DePaul University Thursday morning, while protests continued outside the quad on the Lincoln Park campus.
Chaos and turmoil broke out in the campground shortly after 5:30 a.m. A student who filmed the Chicago Police Department raid submitted the footage to CBS 2. Students attempted to prevent the police’s entry, but the officers pressed through.
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- 1 Depaul Reports Weapons Found At Encampment Site, Threats And Hate Speech
- 2 Chicago police response
- 3 Protesters Vow To Regroup And Press On
- 4 Other campus protests
The sound of someone sprinting across the campground wakes others up and informs them of the predicament. Police officers proceeded quickly, destroying tents, removing signs, and evacuating the area.
DePaul University President Robert Manuel gave law enforcement the go-ahead Wednesday night after declaring the atmosphere on campus “unsafe.” Some students expressed their trauma to CBS 2.
Following the raid, students swiftly reassembled and made their way across the street to a petrol station.
Chicago Police reported that they arrested a man and woman for obstructing traffic outside the encampment. However, the operation did not result in any arrests at the campground itself.
In a statement to university students and staff, President Manuel stated that University Public Safety and Chicago Police were dismantling the campsite after attempts to achieve a “shared resolution” with the DePaul Divestment Coalition failed.
Manuel said, “I urge everyone there to leave peacefully and return home.”
The statement also warned about the quad’s closure.
Manuel said in a statement, “We will trespass, arrest, and suspend anyone who tries to breach the fence around the quad or any of the green spaces on the Lincoln Park Campus.” “DePaul will continue to investigate every reported complaint of harassment or discrimination that we receive due to the encampment or subsequent events.”
Depaul Reports Weapons Found At Encampment Site, Threats And Hate Speech
On its website, the university described “threats to safety and disruption of campus operations,” noting on-campus altercations and criminal activity.
Manuel reported that the tent dismantling led to the seizure of guns from the camping area. He claimed that the weapons discovered included knives, a pellet gun, and other “improvised weapoThe institution released images of the discovered knives and pellet guns.und.
The university also reported seeing boards on the ground with large nails or screws sticking out, which they claimed were traps set up along the fence separating the quad from Fullerton Avenue.
DePaul has received over 1,000 complaints, including more than 625 from neighbors and neighborhood members, as well as more than 425 from students, teachers, staff, and parents.
These accusations included one death threat, four credible threats of violence, 12 incidences of criminal property damage, and 34 reports of antisemitism, among other concerns.
DePaul reported that the encampment caused numerous safety violations and property damage at the university, such as spray painting buildings and doors, etching glass and windows, blocking entrances and exits with dumpsters, chaining and locking the John T. Richardson Library, and removing safety grates.
DePaul reported that the damage to university property reached $180,000. DePaul further stated that the protest resulted in the cancellation of 45 university events, while Oscar Mayer Elementary School in the surrounding neighborhood canceled recess and other outdoor activities.
The noise coming from the campsite was also a serious issue for the community.
DePaul also released videos and social media images, including an Instagram post from Sunday depicting demonstrators screaming in support of Hamas and the October 7 assaults at the intersection of Lincoln and Fullerton avenues, as well as Halsted Street. According to the footage, these protestors approached the campsite to harass a group of Jewish community members who were holding a Mother’s Day baking sale.
A demonstrator exhorts a Jewish woman near the campsite in another social media video to “go to Poland.” The individual who uploaded the clip said, “Yelling this at American Jewish students (many of whom have no connection to Poland at all) isn’t a valid criticism of Israel, in case this seemed like a gray area.”
DePaul also detailed multiple reports about harassment at the campsite and Jewish community members feeling endangered.
Some neighbors, including Jewish Arden Joy, felt relieved when the campsite vanished because the previous few weeks had been traumatic for her and her family.
Joy explained,
Meanwhile, student activists assert that their freedom to demonstrate led to their targeting.
Lead protest marshal Simran Bains said, “I’ve seen counterprotesters shove people around, while CPD, the DePaul administration, and DePaul Public Safety did absolutely nothing.” “I think that what they’ve been trying to do since this encampment started is blame us for the things that people are doing to us.”
The DePaul chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine also accused the DePaul administration of “maligning” student protesters, claiming that reports of improvised devices intended to cause harm were “false” and that the knives discovered at the site were for food preparation in a kitchen tent.
Chicago police response
Chicago police addressed the public Thursday morning, stating that there had been “no confrontations” between officers and protestors, as well as no pushback by the protesters.
“As the approach took place, all individuals who were inside the encampment voluntarily left,” stated Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein.
According to Hein, videographers from the Chicago Department of Law accompanied the police during the intervention.
Hein declined to say whether there was a specific threat before the raid.
Regarding the university’s plan to block off the quad, Hein stated, “DePaul University is private property, so DePaul University will take control of their own property.”
Protesters Vow To Regroup And Press On
A student stated that organizers plan to reassemble following the encampment’s eviction.
“We have to find all of our people because the way that they went about dispersing us meant that lots of people were going out different exits,” Bains stated. “People were just trying to make sure that they weren’t accidentally getting in someone’s way to cause physical harm.”
Protesters targeted the college student center on Thursday, but public safety authorities quickly secured the structure. Late Thursday, tensions on campus remained high following the early-morning raid.
Student protestors say they want to organize a huge demonstration near campus Thursday evening.
The encampment had been in place since April 30, when demonstrators demanded that the school discontinue connections with Israel. During the Gaza war, protesters joined nationwide campus demonstrations in support of Palestinians.
On May 12, demonstrators said they had reached an impasse with university administrators.
Other campus protests
An encampment at Northwestern University’s Evanston campus was voluntarily dismantled following an agreement with the university. Similarly, on May 7, University of Chicago Police intervened to remove an encampment on the Main Quad at the university’s Hyde Park campus after an impasse was reached between the university and protesters.
DePaul University has set the dates for its graduation ceremonies. The College of Law ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 15, while the other ceremonies will be held on Sunday, June 16.
