At Wayne State University in Detroit, police on Thursday stopped a pro-Palestinian encampment that had been operating there and took into custody at least 12 people when their leaders turned down an offer to meet with school officers and refused to leave the campus.
The reasons given by President Kimberly Andrews Espy were health and safety issues as well as disruption of university activities. This week, workers are encouraged to work remotely while summer term programs will not be held in person.
According to Espy, “No individual or group is allowed to occupy campus property for their own purposes and exclude others from being there.”
She said the encampment “perpetuated a climate of exclusion within which some members of our campus community have felt unwelcome and unable to fully participate in campus life.”
Television footage displayed Wayne State and Detroit police clad riot gear tearing down fences and dismantling tents erected near an undergrad library since May 23rd on some green space.
The chant of the protesters was: “There’s no riot here, why are you in riot gear?”
Twelve individuals including one who punched a police officer were taken into custody for trespassing among other offenses according to Matt Lockwood, spokesperson at WSU.
Across Europe and America numerous protest camps arose with students demanding that the universities desist from transacting with Israel or corporations that they believe support its conflict with Gaza. The organizers intend to raise more voices for ending Israel’s war against Hamas whom they call genocidal against Palestinians
Wayne State has about 16,000 undergraduate students but fewer during summer semester. They also call upon the institution to stop traveling from here on in assembly trips, divest from any weapons manufacturers supplying Israeli forces while providing full investment disclosure.
This week, Wayne State published videos showing attempts it made through its president Espy together with other officials inviting demonstrators privately if they would take apart their campsite. None accepted Lockwood said.
US Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, visited the encampment site Thursday after it was broken up to offer support to the protesters.
Ali Hassan representing WSU Students for Justice in Palestine, told WXYZ-TV this week that he believed the university’s shift to remote learning means the administration is taking notice of the student protests.
He said: “The reason that they went remote is because we have put pressure on them.”
May 21st saw similar action being taken by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor when they dissolved their camp after reaching its 30th day.
