A peaceful protest at Emory University in Decatur, Georgia, was met with a violent police response on Thursday, resulting in 28 arrests, including three faculty members and an unknown number of students. Demonstrators were calling for the university to divest from Israel and opposing a $109m police training centre known as ‘Cop City’.
Witnesses reported that police used pepper balls, stun guns and rubber bullets against protesters and bystanders. History professor Clifton Crais, who had emailed university president Gregory Fenves to plead for restraint, said police arrived within minutes, making it ‘likely the quickest show of police force’ among recent campus protests nationwide.
Faculty members have since circulated a motion of no confidence in President Fenves, calling Thursday’s events ‘unprecedented in the history of Emory College and University’. The motion is expected to pass via electronic vote. Emil’ Keme, a professor of Indigenous studies, described the scene as ‘like a war zone’, saying police forced people to move and used rubber bullets.
Georgia governor Brian Kemp issued a statement denouncing ‘terrorism and extremism’ on campuses, though his office clarified he was not referring to Emory students specifically. State legislators condemned the university’s use of ‘extreme anti-riot tactics’. By Friday, the number of protesters had grown to around 500, with an ongoing occupation at the Candler School of Theology.
