Laura Glesby Photo
Student-led protests resume as the semester starts up.
Over 100 Yale students and allies marked the first day of classes by calling for a “Free, Free Palestine” on the steps of the Elm Street courthouse — as 14 students arrested on campus for protesting last spring returned to the courtroom to call for their misdemeanor trespassing charges to be dismissed.
Those 14 students were some of the more than 50 people arrested in late April and early May for camping outside the Beinecke Library in support of Palestine. Judge Frank Iannotti had accommodated students’ summer vacation schedules as he set follow-up court dates at the end of the semester.
On Wednesday morning, students and fellow protesters packed into the judge’s ground floor courtroom, finding seats alongside visibly worried defendants (one holding a baby) awaiting unrelated hearings.
There, attorneys Greta LaFleur and Abigail Mason filed a motion to dismiss the charges and set a future hearing for Oct. 31. That motion to dismiss will be heard at a future date.
According to Mason, the students can still decide to accept a lower charge of a “non-criminal infraction,” which would come with a fine but no criminal record. Students can also choose to move forward with challenging their arrests as unjustifiable.
Another group of students have hearings scheduled for Thursday; so far, six students have resolved their cases by agreeing to pay a fine.
The arrestees received enthusiastic support from fellow students, along with a handful of professors and activists unaffiliated with Yale, in the form of a protest outside the courthouse before their hearing.
The rally took place as the first classes of the semester at Yale met on Wednesday morning. Reuniting after summer break, students exchanged hugs and summer updates before transitioning to chants and protest songs.
The activists lambasted “U.S.-made bombs dropped on refugee camps” in Gaza. They criticized Yale’s response to student activism, citing footage of a Yale Police officer slamming at least one protester to the ground for an arrest on May 1 and calling for the charges to be dropped. And they advocated for Yale, which has a $40.7 billion endowment, to explicitly divest from weapon manufacturers that may have armed Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
“Here we are, facing misdemeanor trespassing charges for being on our own campus, protesting genocide,” said one organizer, who declined to provide their name, prompting chants of “shame!” from the group.
Another student burned incense as the crowd sang and danced to an adapted version of “Down by the Riverside,” repeating the refrain “I ain’t gonna study war no more.”
“Don’t let any of your friends forget what’s happening in Gaza, in Congo, in Sudan, and in all occupied lands,” another protest organizer called out.
The group erupted into cheers as the 14 arrestees on Wednesday’s docket eventually filed into the courthouse.
A university spokesperson did not provide a comment by the publication time of this story. For previous articles about these protests and arrests, a university spokesperson has emphasized Yale’s support for free speech and peaceable assembly, and has said that university police made arrests only when protesters did not follow police orders to disperse.
Students chant "Divest! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!" ...
... and sing, "From New Haven to Gaza, we shall not be moved."