NYPD Launch Mass Arrest While Muslim NYU Students Pray.
NYU students, faculty, and supporters were circling around their Muslim colleagues in order to protect them as they pray when the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group initiated the mass arrest caught in the footage above. The NYPD entered through the south gate of Gould Plaza where they were met by a peaceful crowd who were chanting and locking arms together. The peaceful protestors were thrown to the floor, photographed, and loaded onto buses to be transported to 1 Police Plaza in Manhattan to be processed.
The NYPD threatened to arrest press members who were attempting to document the actions taking place and pushed us as far back as possible in order to keep us from doing our jobs. This practice has been seen repeatedly throughout these protests. They repeatedly stated “you will be subject to arrest if you get close” to press members who at some points were over 10-15 yards from the frontline.
The NYU encampment built on Gould Plaza was in its first night when this occurred. The encampment was built by the students in solidarity with Palestine and to demand complete divestment from all institutions and programs affiliated with Israel.
After the arrests the crowd marched to 1 Police Plaza to provide jail support for their colleagues. The large crowd continued their chants in front of the large facility. They prayed, distributed food/water, and waited outside all night to provide their peers with support as they were let out.
The encampment at NYU was the third to spring up in Manhattan alone. This encampment was made in alignment with the one in Columbia University. Wooden barriers have now been placed around the perimeter of the plaza to ensure that the students will not be able to occupy the space again.
#NYU #Encampment
