(C) F Newsmagine This story was originally published by F Newsmagine and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . People’s Art Institute issues statement on police arrests of protesters [1] ['F Newsmagazine'] Date: 2024-05-07 02:47:58+00:00 According to encampment organizers, arrestees have reported a range of brutal treatment at the hands of the Chicago Police Department By Featured, Letters On May 4, 68 protesters were arrested by the Chicago Police Department after students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago set up their encampment, the People’s Art Institute, in support of nationwide campus protests against the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. All of the protesters have since been released. Here’s a statement released by the People’s Art Institute and its organizers on their Instagram page, detailing their experience of what happened that day and how they were treated by the administration and CPD. The People’s Art Institute, constituted by SAIC students, announced our encampment situated in the AIC’s North Garden on Saturday morning, May 4, at 11:30 A.M. Our goals with the encampment were clear: to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and to demand SAIC and AIC divest from entities profiting off of the occupation and genocide in Palestine, starting with cutting ties with the Crown Family’s weapons manufacturing money. By 12:05 P.M., CPD was onsite and an arrest warning was issued. At this point, a call to the community was put out to join the encampment and supporters congregated on the surrounding sidewalk. They began chanting in support of a free Palestine and of those who continued to set up camp inside the gates. CPD started kettling students on the sidewalk at the corner of Monroe and Michigan and removed them from the North side of the garden with extreme force. At 12:50 P.M. armed SWAT were on scene. Between 1:30-1:45 P.M., CPD began negotiations with PAI police liaisons. Within an hour, CPD blocked the front gate of the garden, using extreme force on students and community members chanting outside. Police were seen yanking people’s hair, strangling, and hitting people with batons and metal fences. Three total students from SAIC were sent to the ER due to this violence. As of this writing, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating CPD use of excessive force. At around 2:00 P.M., SAIC Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Martin Berger began discussions with PAI liaisons, who voiced the encampment’s demands of disclosure and divestment in the genocide. Berger proposed that those within the encampment could temporarily avoid police confrontation and continue administrative negotiations if we moved to the front of the 280 building on Columbus Drive. The PAI liaisons responded that The People’s Art Institute is a non-hierarchical, democratic community, and asked for time to make this decision collectively without the immediate threat of police violence. Berger proposed that we could have until 6:00 A.M. to decide on relocation; and after further discussion, the PAI liaisons requested this be pushed to 10:00 A.M.. Berger responded that he would consider this proposal. To be clear, the liaisons did not at any point reject an offer from the administration. They only requested changes to be considered. While Berger was considering the potential of a 10:00 A.M. deadline, at around 3:30 P.M., liaisons gathered with those in the garden to discuss the information in a community forum. Around 30 minutes later, the PAI liaisons were suddenly informed that not only was the 10:00 A.M. timeline declined, but also that the 6:00 A.M. offer was rescinded entirely. According to CPD official media, AIC requested for CPD to enter the garden and arrest those in the garden while we were waiting for a response from Berger. At 4:00 P.M., Berger informed us that CPD and SWAT were coming to make arrests. Supporters and students outside the encampment mobilized to form a human chain in front of the gates to prevent more police from entering the encampment. This line was violently broken apart by police and SWAT who began encroaching on the PAI. Approaching the group from multiple angles, SWAT and police began their violent mass arrest. Arrestees have reported a range of brutal treatment from CPD/SWAT: being slammed onto the ground, hit, kneeled and stepped on, dragged, aggressively grabbed, and elbowed. Unnecessary violence and aggression norm. Many people who were arrested were injured, and two arrested students needed to be taken to the 68 PAI protestors were arrested and the encampment was cleared out, ultimately leading to its termination at around 5:00 P.M. The majority of those arrested were SAIC students. Leadership at SAIC and AIC have since released statements claiming they acted against us in the name of safety with no mention of the reasons for our encampment: to stand against the genocide in Palestine and to demand for disclosure and divestment from entities involved in the genocide. To hypocritically invoke safety while calling for the brutalization of student protestors and profiting off of Crown family weapons manufacturing money is shameful. We reject the AIC’s terms and we reject their false narrative about our Palestine solidarity encampment. We want to emphasize that as the AIC sent SWAT forces to brutalize protestors taking a stand for Palestine, people in Rafah are currently being bombed by Israel while also receiving evacuation orders that threaten an imminent, lethal attack. We greatly appreciate those who contributed to jail support with their presence and monetary donations. It enabled us to greet our arrested community members with care, and we now ask that you redirect that care directly to those in Gaza by donating to evacuation aid @operationolivebranch Long Live The People’s Art Institute. This is only the beginning. Here’s a statement released by President Elissa Tenny and Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Martin Berger about the protests and the arrest. 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