Police Crackdown on VCU Campus Palestine Protests
Once again in Richmond, law enforcement showed little restrained against protesters.
Protests against the United States involvement in Gaza has been ongoing in Richmond on a regular basis for nearly seven months. The first rally in Richmond since Israel began major military operations in Gaza after October 7 was a community lead march on October 15. Marches and vigils continued as the civilian death toll in Gaza quickly surpasses the number of victims that were murdered on October 7.
However, in April the national climate changed with campus occupations replacing street marches. College campus in elite Ivy league schools like Columbia Universities were met with large police presences and arrests. Then the occupation became more widespread. The first universities in Virginia that held this sit-in style of protests were Mary Washington University and Virginia Tech. MWU had 12 students arrested and then Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said that he would not allow encampments on campuses and Virginia Tech had 82 protesters arrested the next night.
On Monday morning, VCU students began to hold a protest on the lawn in front of Cabell Library on the Monroe Park Campus. Organizers did not call it an encampment. Beginning at 8AM in the morning, the protesters for Palestine declared the grassy area as a Liberated Zone.
Not much later VCU’s Vice President of Student Affairs Aaron Hart came out to lay out what the rules and policies were. More protesters began dropping off more supplies, bottles of water, and food. Dancing and music were past time celebrations. Protesters offered me food like vegan feta sandwiches. I was generously offered two sandwiches. Normally I would have felt guilty about taking too much food from protesters, but I had seen this all before. This food would be thrown away by the police by the end of the night.
As the day went about, things took a dramatic shift by 5:30 PM. A pick-up truck filled with pallets began dropping off their cargo and protesters began setting up tents. Not long after, rumors began circulating that law enforcement was spotted with riot gear. At 8:33 PM about 2 dozen VCU Police officers in riot gear stepped off a bus. Not long after, Richmond Police and Virginia State Police arrived as well.
VCU Police lead the first charge. Some protesters threw water bottled at police with helmets and shields while other protesters held a line of those pallets that were brought in. Police began grabbing the pallets and throwing them in the direction of onlookers. Police began using their shields as melee weapons and began striking protesters.
Behind the VCU PD was the Virginia State Police. VSP formed a line behind them. Richmond Police were also on the scene. RPD officers deployed chemical agents that looked like pepper spray and CS gas. Yes, it was Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney’s officers deploying tear gas again.
Back in 2020, Richmond Police deployed chemical agents on protesters around the Confederate statue of Robert E, Lee. Now in 2024, officers are doing the same because protesters set up tents.
Before 11:00 PM, police had held the area and sanitation workers began removing objects in the grassy area that been called the Liberated Zone. VCU released a statement explain the use of force that “Final exams begin this week and VCU must provide students the opportunity to safely and successfully complete the semester.”
House of Delegates member Rae Cousins who represents Richmond issued a statement saying “Excessive force towards students who are protesting non-violently is unacceptable. The right to assemble peacefully is a hallmark of our democracy, which we must protect.”
These crackdowns on college campus have been attempts to paint these protests as antisemitic. Youngkin laid the groundwork in doing so with his Commission to Combat Antisemitism. However, the problem I found with this report that it equated opposition to Israel as antisemitism and glossed over right-wing extremists and white supremacists.
The number of arrests and injuries were not immediately available. Going through my footage shot that at least ten protesters were arrested and blood on the elbows of a police officers. The collection of footage shoot provides my prospective of yesterday on campus.
