It all changed quickly on the spacious Emory University campus quad shortly after sunrise Thursday morning, student Bella Montealegre recalled.

“(We were) mostly just chanting, dancing, et cetera and then all of a sudden, I see, like, dozens of police officers come from (the north) side of the campus,” Montealegre remembered the day after in an interview.

Cheryl Elliott, Emory’s vice president for public safety, said some individuals pushed past campus police officers stationed on the quad and set up tents as part of a protest in an area where equipment and materials were staged for the upcoming commencement. Atlanta police and Georgia State Patrol officers were called to assist. Elliott said authorities gave multiple warnings before taking action.

Montealegre said that’s not what she saw.

“I was right there in the front, and they just threw tear gas and it went right in my face and a lot of my peers’ (faces) as well,” she said.

The campus was soon in chaos. A faculty member who yelled at police was taken to the ground and handcuffed. Troopers deployed pepper balls to control the crowd. About two dozen people, mostly Emory students, were arrested.

After months of mounting tension at the Atlanta school about differing viewpoints concerning the Israel-Hamas war, Thursday’s confrontations and arrests stunned the Emory campus. Emory is now among the large list of colleges and universities nationwide that has had arrests in recent weeks in response to protests about the war. Promises of more protests, concerns about student safety and discrimination and calls for the removal of President Gregory L. Fenves will likely define the last weeks of the semester ahead of the May 13 commencement ceremony on campus.

The actions of law enforcement will be another area of focus. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said city police are reviewing body-worn camera footage to determine if officers made any policy violations. An attorney representing three of the protesters and several state lawmakers have questioned the tactics used by Georgia State Patrol.

Tara Doyle, a senior lecturer and research fellow at Emory’s Candler School of Theology, comforted groups of upset students shortly after the arrests. She said she was “ashamed” of Emory’s response to the protest.

“These are our kids,” she said, clearly frustrated. “This is our campus.”

...continued

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.