A demonstrator is arrested Saturday by Chicago police officers as they cleared an encampment set up for several hours by students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to protest the Israel-Hamas war.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Chicago’s police oversight agency has received three complaints alleging excessive force by police at the pro-Palestinian protest outside the Art Institute over the weekend that ended with nearly 70 arrests.
One protester said they were hit by an officer and taken to Thorek Memorial Hospital for treatment, according to a complaint filed with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
The two other complaints were made anonymously and both alleged that Chicago police officers used “excessive force” against the protesters, who had set up an encampment Saturday at the Art Institute’s North Garden near Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street.
“Many officers acted violently, pushing against a metal barricade causing many in the crowd to struggle to breathe & remain standing,” one complaint states. “ Many were shoved violently against the metal fencing surrounding the encampment. Several times officers reached over & around the barricade, shoving & elbowing the crowd directly.”
A Sun-Times reporter captured video of police and protesters pushing and shoving as officers attempted to move demonstrators from West Monroe Street back onto the sidewalk of South Michigan Avenue.
This was earlier in the day when police and protesters were pushing back and forth on a barricade police put up.
This was going on most of the day, though from what I saw, officers Callahan and Schmitz seemed to get the most aggressive with protesters on the line. pic.twitter.com/pj5dUh1ABa
— Violet Miller (@_ViMiller) May 5, 2024
The video shows one officer pushing a protester in the head with his open hand, and then doing the same to another protester.
Guidelines for the police department require members to only use force that’s “objectively reasonable, necessary, and proportional in order to ensure the safety of a member or third person, stop an attack, make an arrest, control a subject, or prevent escape.”
The encampment was set up demonstrators who demanded the museum and the School of the Art Institute disclose its investments and divest from those supporting the “occupation of Palestine.”
Chicago police cleared the encampment hours after it was set up and arrested 68 protesters.
As of Wednesday, at least 20 protesters had been charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass. All arrest reports say they were given numerous orders to disperse and leave the area but refused to comply.
The Art Institute said Wednesday it will not pursue charges against any of the School of the Art Institute students who were arrested. Organizers said those arrested were primarily SAIC students but also included faculty, friends, artists and students from neighboring universities.
The People’s Art Institute, one of the groups that put together the encampment, said at least five protesters, including two who were arrested, were taken to hospitals after police swept the encampment.
They have accused law enforcement of yanking people’s hair, choking them and hitting people with batons and metal fences — in addition to hitting, elbowing and slamming protesters to the ground and stepping on them.
School officials said they offered protesters amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges if they agreed to relocate.
Organizers said they were initially given until 6 a.m. Sunday to consider the offer. The People’s Art Institute met to discuss the offer about 3:30 p.m., but organizers say 30 minutes later the school rescinded the deal and warned that “SWAT” would be sent in.
The school has denied using the word SWAT, which stands for special weapons and tactics. The school said it spent hours negotiating with organizers and made several offers “including an offer to move to an alternative, safer location, which would have ensured the safety of museum employees and visitors by allowing employees to unblock fire exits obstructed by the protestors.”
“After hours of making numerous unanswered offers, the museum requested that the police end the protest in the safest way possible,” the school wrote in a statement.
Organizers said they never rejected the school’s offers.
Days later, campus police at the University of Chicago cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment at the school at daybreak. There were no injuries or arrests reported from that incident.
Contributing: Violet Miller