Protests erupt at Atlanta universities amid nationwide campus demonstrations against war in Gaza

Caption

Georgia State Patrol officers detain a demonstrator on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Thursday.

Credit: Mike Stewart/AP

Police have broken up an encampment at Atlanta's Emory University protesting both the war in Gaza and the ongoing construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

Protesters at Emory were violently removed from campus and arrested en masse after setting up the encampment. University officials said those protesters were not students.

A circulated statement from Emory University Vice President for Public Safety Cheryl Elliott said 28 people were arrested, 20 of which had ties to the Emory community. Dozens of people unaffiliated with Emory were trespassing and attempting to disrupt the campus, the school said Thursday.

The Georgia Department of Public Safety said any and all charges would be issued by the Emory Police Department.

NPR reported that the activists' intentions were outlined in an op-ed published Thursday in the Middle Eastern-focused news site Mondoweiss, writing that "we are students across multiple Atlanta universities and community members" demanding divestment "at all Atlanta colleges and universities." Social media posts suggest that activists explicitly encouraged "non-students" to participate.

Emory alum Tiffanie Lanelle Mackey said what started out as a protest by a few dozen people turned into hundreds after the police action.

"They came on campus and began to escalate a peaceful protest and encampment that was happening on the quad," she told GPB. "They started throwing students to the ground, detaining students with zip-ties. They threw tear gas into the crowd and began to collect property, tents and everything."

There are plans for a counter-demonstration at Emory tonight to "stop antisemitism."

Separately, about three dozen students at Kennesaw State University, north of Atlanta, staged a walkout today.

They included KSU junior Andy Cart Earhart.

"I believe that what's going on in the state of Israel and in the West Bank and in Gaza is truly a human rights violation," she said. "And I believe that our government should be held accountable."

The protests come amid rising campus tensions nationwide after last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University in New York.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr released a statement Thursday afternoon on X about the protests: "We will proudly stand by any university that takes action to protect the health and safety of Georgia’s students," he said.