Photos: Facebook\YouTube Screenshots
NEW YORK, New York, May 1, 2024 — On the afternoon of Tuesday, April 30th, 2024, City College President Vincent Boudreau sent a letter to the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment, warning that the encampment must be dismantled by the morning of May 1st, 2024, or the university would “consider all legal, disciplinary and operational measures at our disposal.” In a call with the vice-chancellor, a CUNY faculty member representing the encampment implored the administration not to use violent force against peaceful student protestors.
Inside the encampment, students who had earlier that day been engaged in craft workshops, teach-ins, and choir performances held a vote on whether to leave overnight, or to stay and defend the encampment. They voted unanimously to stay.
Campus security along with NYPD locked down all entrances to the campus in an effort to block access in and out of the encampment. Thousands gathered outside the gates to protest in solidarity with the students.
At approximately 11pm, without warning, Boudreau requested the NYPD enter the encampment to arrest students and faculty. Boudreau claimed that he did so in the interests of student “safety” because the CUNY students and workers peacefully protesting posed a security risk. Protestors stood their ground as SRG swarmed the campus and were viciously attacked. Police broke the ankle of an undergraduate student, broke the teeth of two protestors, attacked and burned many students, faculty and at least one journalist with pepper spray at close range, and beat many more with batons. Legal observers were denied entry or arrested. Among the first to be arrested was the faculty member who had been negotiating with the vice-chancellor moments earlier. 133 arrests were made.
As officers made their way on to campus, an autonomous group of students managed to occupy the finance office of the Howard E. Wille administration building in a final act of resistance. The students held the building for over an hour until they were violently removed and arrested.
We will not be intimidated by these brutal and spineless tactics. We realize they express the university’s fear of our commitment to the Palestinian national liberation struggle. We take our lead from the steadfast resistance of the Palestinian people, who face far greater threats and challenges than we do here. As we write, the IOF is preparing to invade Rafah, with reports that military-aged men are being prevented from leaving. Our university’s complicity in Israel’s brutal genocide is the reason we created this encampment, and it is the reason we will continue to fight for our five demands: disclose and divest, a full academic boycott of Israel, protection for students and workers who stand in solidarity with Palestine, the demilitarization of CUNY and Harlem, and a people’s CUNY not beholden to big donors. We will not stop until these demands are met.
This is just the beginning.
¡Viva viva, Palestina!
