Protests on Virginia’s university campuses have continued to escalate, with police using pepper spray to disperse a crowd and arresting 13 individuals connected to a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Virginia Commonwealth University on Monday evening.
The university said in a statement that those arrested were charged with unlawful assembly and trespassing. Six were students who will go through the university’s conduct process, according to the statement.
The events on Monday at VCU were among the demonstrations spreading on college campuses around the country, with campus officials and protesters facing off in recent weeks. In Virginia, colleges have seen dozens of arrests since the weekend — more than 80 people were arrested at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg beginning Sunday night, and 12 people were arrested at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg on Saturday. Each college has said in a statement that the protests violated school policy.
Advertisement
End of carouselOther demonstrations in the region have not led to arrests but are ongoing. Protesters at George Washington University have maintained an encampment at University Yard, a central gathering space on campus less than a mile west of the White House. Two Republican lawmakers sent a letter Tuesday to D.C.’s mayor and police chief critical of the decision not to clear the demonstration at GW. And students at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland launched an encampment Monday evening.
Demonstrations have sprung up on college campuses since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants and other fighters killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 200 hostages. Israel’s subsequent military operation to eradicate Hamas has killed tens of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Demonstrators have expressed support for Palestinian rights and demanded that their schools disclose or cease investment in companies doing business with Israel, among other concerns.
Over the past two weeks, more than 1,200 arrests have been made on campuses around the country, according to tracking by The Washington Post. Monday night at Columbia University in New York, where campus demonstrations first drew national attention earlier this month, protesters took over a campus building. The school responded Tuesday by threatening to expel the students who occupied the building.
Advertisement
At VCU in Richmond, an encampment was set up Monday. The university said in a statement that staff and police repeatedly asked individuals to comply with policies, and officers provided four warnings to those who did not leave the encampment.
Officers from the VCU, Richmond and Virginia State police departments were on the scene, and the city police agency declared the gathering an unlawful assembly, according to the university’s statement. It said protesters threw objects and used chemical spray on officers as they tried to break down the encampment.
Officers used pepper spray to disperse the crowd, according to the university, which said they did not use other chemical agents such as tear gas.
“Yesterday’s events outside of Cabell Library remind us of the complexities we face as a university committed to free speech, safety and operating our university,” VCU President Michael Rao said in a statement Tuesday. “While our community cherishes the right to peaceful protest, setting up structures on our campus lawn violated our policy. Our staff respectfully and repeatedly asked individuals to comply. As has happened on other campuses around the country, conflict between police and protesters took place.”
Advertisement
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) said late Monday on social media that she was talking with public safety officials about the VCU protests to understand safety issues.
“I am told that these protesters seem to be well-funded and well-supplied with food, tarps, tents, and pallets,” Earle-Sears wrote. “Once the dust settles, I think we will see this was not entirely a peaceful protest. Parents, law enforcement have been working to ensure the safety of all.”
On Sunday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he was “not going to have the kinds of hate speech and intimidation that we’re seeing across the country in Virginia.”
Early Tuesday, shortly after the events at VCU, the governor posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the administration would continue to fully support campus, local and state law enforcement and university leadership to keep campuses safe.
Advertisement
“Across the Commonwealth we’ve seen student and significant non-student participants, throw projectiles at law enforcement, violate the policies of our colleges and universities, obstruct and disrupt student life and endanger public safety,” Youngkin wrote. “After repeated warnings and refusal to disperse, law enforcement must protect Virginians.”
University officials at Johns Hopkins in Maryland said in a statement that the university and student participants had come to a mutual agreement for the encampment to disperse, and the peaceful protest would be allowed to continue. In a news release, however, organizers from the Hopkins Justice Collective said the encampment never broke and they did not reach an agreement with the university. The group planned a rally for Tuesday evening.
“We are making the message clear: we are not going anywhere until our demands are met,” the release read. “Hopkins students and community members are steadfast in their solidarity to hold the encampment and demand divestment.”
Nicole Asbury contributed to this report.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLGkecydZK%2BZX2d9c4COaWtoa2Bkw6TBjKyrrpyVo8FuvNGoq56rpGKus77ErKusZZmov6Kxy2aemrKRZA%3D%3D