100 detained as police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at Northeastern

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Police detained around 100 people, Northeastern said. Anyone detained who could produce a valid Northeastern ID was released, the school said.

Police officers arrest protesters who had been encamped on Centennial Common on Northeastern’s campus early Saturday morning. Police detained around 100 people in the second such dramatic sweep at a college in Boston in the past week. Erin Clark/The Boston Globe

Police dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment at Northeastern University on Saturday morning, detaining around 100 protesters in this week’s second instance of law enforcement dismantling a student encampment in Boston.

“Earlier this morning the Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD) — in cooperation with local law enforcement partners — began clearing an unauthorized encampment on the university’s Boston campus,” the university said in a statement at around 8 a.m. Saturday morning.

Protesters set up the encampment on the school’s Centennial Common on Thursday, joining students at multiple Greater Boston colleges and dozens of others across the U.S. who have pitched tents and staged protests in recent days following the arrests of around 100 people at a similar encampment at Columbia University. Students are demanding their schools cut ties with Israeli companies and military and calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Police detained around 100 people, Northeastern said. Anyone detained who could produce a valid Northeastern ID was released, the school said.

“They will face disciplinary proceedings within the university, not legal action. Those who refused to disclose their affiliation were arrested,” the university said in a statement.

The Massachusetts State Police said they participated in clearing the encampment after NUPD requested assistance.

“State Police deployed personnel to the university campus from Troop H and the Special Emergency Response Team. Officers directed protesters to disperse and MSP members assisted in removing protesters who refused to leave,” Dave Procopio, director of media communications for the Massachusetts State Police, said in a statement.

“The State Police are committed to protecting the lawful exercise of people’s rights of assembly and free speech in a safe and secure manner, as well as to protecting safety and property all involved parties,” Procopio wrote.

Footage posted by The Huntington News, Northeastern’s student-run newspaper, on Saturday morning shows police, some in riot gear, using zip ties to restrain protesters and lead them into a nearby campus building, then use vans to transport the arrestees.

Early Thursday, police arrested more than 100 people at an encampment built by Emerson College students in a walkway next to the school’s downtown campus.

The dispersal of the Northeastern encampment means that, in the Boston area, there are currently pro-Palestinian student encampments at Harvard, MIT, and Tufts.

Controversy over antisemitic language

In a statement released Saturday morning, Northeastern said outside agitators had joined the protest and pointed to the use of antisemitic speech on campus, indicating that it was a factor in the decision to dismantle the encampment.

“What began as a student demonstration two days ago, was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern,” the university said in a statement. “Last night, the use of virulent antisemitic slurs, including “Kill the Jews,” crossed the line. We cannot tolerate this kind of hate on our campus.”

Organizers of the encampment have maintained that most pro-Palestinian protesters on campus were students and that no members of the encampment engaged in antisemitism, saying on social media that “antisemitic statements at Northeastern were shouted by Zionist counter-protestors.”

“Encampment organizers responded to the provocation with boos and demands for the Zionist provocateurs to leave,” student group Huskies for a Free Palestine posted on Instagram. “Northeastern: retract the slander, release the students and workers you arrested, disclose, and divest!”

In a statement to Boston.com Saturday afternoon, a spokesperson for the university did not directly address the claim that the antisemitic comments were from counter-protesters.

“The fact that the phrase ‘Kill the Jews’ was shouted on our campus is not in dispute. The Boston Globe, a trusted news organization, reported it as fact. There is also substantial video evidence. Any suggestion that repulsive antisemitic comments are sometimes acceptable depending on the context is reprehensible. That language has no place on any university campus,” said Renata Nyul, the school’s vice president for communications.

Reporting by the Globe referred to the use of the phrase “kill the Jews” but did not specify if it was said by a protester or counter-protester.

Videos posted on social media from Friday night appear to show a counter-protester holding an Israeli flag just outside the encampment shout “kill the Jews.” Multiple protesters respond with boos and chants of “we’re gonna let them leave.”

this is a video of the incident I mentioned, provided by an organizer with Huskies For A Free Palestine/HFP.NEU

The student in the greenish blue sweatshirt holding the Israeli flag is a counter-protester pic.twitter.com/2KnUuFAkam

— Tori Bedford (@Tori_Bedford) April 27, 2024