The Stop Cop City movement reported on Thursday that Georgia State Police confronted its protesters as they attempted to create a pro-Palestine encampment on the Emory University campus.
A post to the social media platform X by Stop Cop City activists claims “an encampment in the Emory quad” was established at 7:30 a.m. “to demand total divestment from Israeli apartheid and Cop City,” the activists’ preferred term for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
They claimed members of the Emory community “launched a Gaza solidarity encampment at Emory University, explicitly rejecting separation from ‘non-student’ community members, and asking everyone to join them.”
BREAKING: Community members in Atlanta launched a Gaza solidarity encampment at Emory University, explicitly rejecting separation from "non-student" community members, and asking everyone to join them. pic.twitter.com/N2cSBRNsjV
— Defend the Atlanta Forest/Stop Cop City (@defendATLforest) April 25, 2024
The posts coincided with the publication of an essay by Narek Boyajian to Mondoweiss that declared Stop Cop City protesters planned to protest against Israel’s defensive war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
In addition to work as an activist, a biography page on the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute indicates Boyajian is the director of Fund Georgia’s Future, and reveals Boyajian previously worked at Education Trust, as a second grade teacher in Atlanta, and as an organizer “at the Abolitionist Teaching Network.”
While the Stop Cop City activists originally demanded divestment from companies that profit from “apartheid” in Israel, an apparent reference to the controversial Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement described as antisemitic by many Israelis, the group later claimed such moves are a “scam.”
Total chaos at Emory University as Atlanta Police shoot students with pepperballs and attack encampment pic.twitter.com/5QmKuUrn43
— escalatenetwork (@readytoescalate) April 25, 2024
Stop Cop City declared that”we are going to have to completely dismantle these institutions, the arms manufacturers, their financial aid, and the system of laws that makes imperialist war possible.”
Legal analyst Phil Holloway reported that Emory University stated the protesters “are not members of our community” but instead are “activists attempting to disrupt our university” after a video emerged showing police using crowd control projectiles and tasers to disperse the encampment.
The organization of these campus occupation forces is something to behold
In a statement @EmoryUniversity said these “are not members of our community. They are activists attempting to disrupt our university”
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) April 25, 2024
The activists, at one point, seemed to acknowledge they have no direct affiliation with the university but declared, “nobody cares” because “there are no outsiders on planet earth.”
While the university pointed to participation by outside groups, at least one Emory faculty member was reportedly arrested. A video posted to X shows Emory Philosophy Department chair Noëlle McAfee asking the person filming to inform Emory of her arrest.
Noëlle McAfee, chair of the Emory philosophy dept, gets arrested.
Her bio says she “is a critical theorist working in the tradition of the Frankfurt School, drawing on feminist philosophy [and] psychoanalysis.”
How will society survive a single day without her contributions? pic.twitter.com/xcC3e7czhr
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) April 25, 2024
Despite the Emory statement citing the participation of outside activists and Stop Cop City acknowledging its presence at the university, other posts to social media have highlighted alleged police action against students.
This is at Emory University, a PRIVATE university. They have an 11 BILLION dollar endowment, this is how they allow agents of the state to treat their paying students.
America is lost. pic.twitter.com/svIvmkYiHv
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) April 25, 2024
A total of 61 activists accused of being associated with Stop Cop City protests were indicted by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and accused of being part of a criminal organization that sought to use violence to stop the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, the new facility set to be used for training by law enforcement and firefighters.
Two protesters affiliated with Stop Cop City were arrested at the site of the future training facility in March after police say they scaled construction equipment, chained themselves to a crane, and unfurled a banner demanding the city “Drop Cop City.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Emory University Protest” by escalatenetwork.
