Atlanta Police Violently Arrest Emory Students & Faculty to Clear Gaza Solidarity Encampment

As a wave of student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza continues to spread from coast to coast, schools and law enforcement have responded with increasing brutality to campus encampments. One of the most violent police crackdowns took place at Emory University in Atlanta on Thursday, when local and state police swept onto the campus just hours after students had set up tents on the quad in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza as well as the planned police training center known as Cop City. Police used tear gas and stun guns to break up the encampment as they wrestled people to the ground, and are accused of using rubber bullets. Among those arrested were a few faculty members. We hear from two of the arrested professors: Noëlle McAfee, chair of the philosophy department, and Emil’ Keme, professor of English and Indigenous studies. We also speak with Palestinian American organizer and medical student Umaymah Mohammad, who described how Emory has repeatedly suppressed activism on campus since the start of the war in October, and said law enforcement in Georgia have worked closely with Israeli authorities as part of a police training exchange. “We no longer accept our tuition dollars and our tax money is going to fund an active genocide,” she says.