Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon

UCPD officers and protesters surround a police car where a protester had been detained.

A UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) rally saw three protesters arrested and physical altercations between protesters and officers. Earlier, protesters locked Cobb Gate using a bike lock despite UCPD’s efforts to keep the gate open. During the rally multiple police officers used pepper spray and batons. Protesters damaged UCPD vehicles and kicked at least one officer.

The rally, which began with a walkout at 2:30 p.m., morphed into a brawl that involved at least 200 University- and community-affiliated protesters, 20 University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) officers, and 30 Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers. 

Deans-on-Call informed UCPD at approximately 2:15 p.m., that the University had “zero tolerance” for excessive noise before attempting to hand out warning cards to protest leaders using bullhorns to lead chants on the quad at 2:45 p.m. The cards read, “FINAL WARNING: This card serves to inform you or your student organization that your conduct is violating policies outlined in the Student Manual.” The cards also contained four QR codes linked to relevant University policies, which were updated in advance of the beginning of the academic year. Protesters refused to accept the cards. 

Chants at the rally included, “We know where your money goes, bombing Gaza schools and homes” and “resistance is justified when people are occupied.” A protest leader said that the University “claims that they care about our safety and our wellbeing, but in the last year these two-faced administrators have shown their true faces.”

At approximately 3 p.m., protesters marched from the center of the quad and proceeded through the Hull and Cobb Gates on the north end. Once all protesters had passed through Cobb Gate, protesters pushed the gate closed and secured it with a bike lock despite police attempts to stop them. They also hung a banner on the gate that read “Free Palestine” and “Hands Off Lebanon.”

By this point, the protest had grown to include over 150 people, spilling out onto East 57th Street. Protesters allowed space for cars to pass through, but UCPD patrol cars blocked the street on both ends.

Protesters told police officers “Pigs go home” and chanted “Intifada, intifada, long live the intifada.” 

At 3:15 p.m., protesters left Cobb Gate and proceeded north on S. Ellis Avenue. They stopped in front of the Nuclear Energy Sculpture next to the Regenstein Library, at which point some protesters threw paint on the statue and wrote graffiti in the surrounding area that read “Free Gaza,” “hands off Lebonan” [sic], and “fuck the bombs.” CPD officers arrived on scene, joining at least 20 UCPD officers. Some were in riot gear and carried batons and zip-ties.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., the protest moved further north along the street, stopping between Ratner Athletics Center and the Court Theater. Police searched for and then tackled and detained one protester, whom they put into a patrol car. Protesters attempted to prevent the detainment, physically confronting officers. The Maroon was unable to confirm why that protester was detained. 

Other protesters began chanting “Let him go!” and surrounded the patrol car that held the detained protester. An officer attempted to drive the UCPD patrol car away from the scene but was blocked by the crowd of protesters. Officers and protesters continued to push against each other. 

Another protester struck the side mirror of a separate police car several times with what appeared to be a rock and then rejoined the crowd. 

As tensions escalated, a third protester kicked a CPD officer in the back of his leg. Officers attempted to detain the protester, hitting him with a baton. They chased him briefly and tackled him halfway down the block, at which point they detained him and placed him into a patrol car.

Officers used pepper spray on protesters, who were seen afterward rubbing and washing their eyes with water. One student told the Maroon that he was pepper sprayed by an officer who had “harassed students at the encampment.” A Maroon reporter witnessed a UCPD officer inadvertently pepper spraying a Chicago Police Department Captain, an incident which the UCPD officer later apologized for. 

At approximately 3:45 p.m., protesters began dispersing north along South Ellis Avenue, south towards the quad, and through the SMART Museum courtyard. One CPD officer remarked to gathered officers, “that was fun for a little while.” Shortly after, CPD and UCPD officers also dispersed. By 4 p.m., the lock on Cobb Gate was removed and the gate was reopened.

By 5 p.m., Facility Services had begun using pressure washers to remove the graffiti surrounding the Nuclear Energy sculpture.

Eman Abdelhadi, assistant professor of Comparative Human Development and a member of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (formerly Faculty for Justice in Palestine), was present at the protest and spoke to the Maroon in an interview after the protesters had dispersed.

“It was an enormous escalation,” Abdelhadi said of police officers’ response to the protest. “This was a relatively small rally and march. I understand that… there was a little bit of spray painting or that kind of thing, but the University escalated it to bodily harm. The police were extremely brutal… I will never forget having to pour water into a student’s eyes as the student said, ‘I can’t see, I can’t see, I can’t see’ after having been pepper sprayed.”

In a statement to the Maroon, the University confirmed the arrests of three protesters after protesters locked Cobb Gate, vandalized University property, and pushed officers. “At approximately 3:20 p.m. Friday, a group of protesters who had marched from a rally on campus used locks to block access to campus through a gate on 57th Street, and began spray-painting buildings and public art near the corner of Ellis Avenue and 57th Street. Officers from the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) responded to the scene. Protesters instigated confrontations with police by physically surrounding a police car, further vandalizing and damaging property, blocking the public road, and striking police officers who responded. UCPD arrested two individuals – one for criminal damage and one for battery to a police officer. The Chicago Police Department arrested one individual for battery to a police officer.”

According to a University spokesperson, “the University of Chicago is fundamentally committed to upholding the rights of protesters to express their views on any issue. At the same time, University policies make it clear that protests cannot jeopardize public safety, disrupt the University’s operations, or involve the destruction of property.” 

Today’s protest comes at the tail end of National Students for Justice in Palestine’s “Week of Rage,” which commemorates the anniversary of the start of the Israel-Hamas War and encompasses the one year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel. Sundown Friday also marks the beginning of Yom Kippur, the end of the Jewish High Holy Days. 

In a press release following the events, UCUP discussed the day’s events. “When UCPD and CPD came at protestors with batons, attempted to run people over, and mass pepper-sprayed in a drastic escalation of police violence from prior protests at the University, the crowd responded instinctively, recognizing that we must protect each other from the university’s agents of brutality,” the statement read.

“The people who spontaneously decided to surround a squad car, confront two police departments, and not back down in the face of pepper spray and batons realized that UCPD and CPD stand between us and divestment: the police are an occupying force, and the solidarity movement for a free Palestine will have to go through them.”

At the time of publication, UCPD had not responded to a request for comment and CPD could not be reached for comment.

– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Anu Vashist, Managing Editor; Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor; Tiffany Li and Katherine Weaver, News Editors; Sabrina Chang, Deputy News Editor; Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon, Senior News Reporter 

Editor’s note, October 22, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect a comment from UCUP. UCPD and CPD have not responded to requests for comments.