CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Police have moved onto the University of Chicago campus to clear a tent encampment set up by anti-war protesters.
Protesters were heard chanting, “We are the encampment,” as they squared off against university police lined up just west of the Quad. They were blocking access to the place where demonstrators had been occupying for the last eight days.
The police wore riot helmets and previously held riot shields, while some students were wearing googles, with the anticipation that tear gas would be used.
After being warned nearly two hours earlier of a potential raid, police began clearing out the encampment at around 4:45 a.m.
According to a professor, officers began throwing tents and some of the wooden pallets that were used to demark the area.
It’s unclear if any arrests were made.
There were leaflets handed out to demonstrators, telling them that they needed to vacate the space, otherwise they would face arrest and potential sanctions from the school.
Shortly before 8 a.m., University of Chicago students were allowed back on the Quad.
University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos issued a letter to the college community Tuesday morning:
“Dear Members of the University Community,
Last Monday and Friday, I shared how we would approach making decisions about the encampment. Protest is a strongly protected form of speech in the UChicago culture, and the demonstrators had multiple opportunities to express their views. But many aspects of the protests also interfered with the free expression, learning, and work of others. Safety concerns have mounted over the last few days, and the risks were increasing too rapidly for the status quo to hold. This morning, the University intervened to end the encampment.
The protesters were given an opportunity to disassemble their structures and depart the encampment, and there have been no arrests. Where appropriate, disciplinary action will proceed.
Over multiple days, including through the weekend, we engaged with the representatives of the encampment to work toward a resolution. There were areas where we were able to achieve common ground, but ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the University’s principled dedication to institutional neutrality. As such, we could not come to a resolution.
The University remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest.”
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