40+ Arrested So Far As Police Clear Beinecke Encampment

By Yash Roy, New Haven Independent

NEW HAVEN, CT — More than 40 people have been arrested so far as Yale and New Haven police cleared a student-led, pro-Palestinian tent encampment in Beinecke Plaza early Monday morning.

The arrests took place after three nights of Yale choosing not to arrest students who have been rallying in the university’s downtown campus by the hundreds to press Yale to divest its endowment from military weapons manufacturers amid Israel’s war in Gaza.

That changed Monday morning at around 7 a.m.

At that time, Yale administrators issued three warnings to clear the Beinecke encampment — an encampment of more than 35 tents.

Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell said between 40 and 50 students have been arrested and charged with criminal trespassing, which is a Class A misdemeanor. He confirmed that arrestees were processed, received a citation, and were then released.

In response to those arrests, hundreds of protesters blocked the Grove and Prospect streets intersection at around 8:15, preventing traffic from passing. The protesters remained in the intersection as of 9:15.

“Yale admin, we shall not be moved,” the protesters chanted as they blocked traffic. “Arm in arm, we shall not be moved.”

The chants continued: “Muslim blood is not cheap. For the martyrs we will weep.”

“Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest.”

And: “Palestine is our demand. No peace on stolen land.”

Craig Birckhead-Morton, a senior undergraduate at Yale, spoke with the Independent after being released from arrest. He was processed after 8 a.m. on Ashmun Street. Birckhead-Morton received a summons to appear at New Haven’s superior court on May 8 for the charge of criminal trespass.

The arrests come after the Beinecke Plaza encampment and debates around pro-Palestinian protests on Yale’s campus entered the national spotlight after the New York Post reported that a Yale student journalist had been jabbed with a Palestinian flag on Saturday.

On Sunday night, the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven sent out an email calling out “the hostile antisemitic environment at Yale University that has escalated this weekend.”

Arrests come after protesters remained in the encampment Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. On Saturday night, Yale issued a message from Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis and Graduate School Dean Lynn Cooley telling protesters to leave by 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night or face disciplinary action.

The protesters stayed put.

On Sunday night, Yale offered organizers of the protest the opportunity to meet with two trustees of the Yale Corporation, including the one trustee who sits on the committee that determines what investments are ethical. That committee announced this week that they do not believe that investments in weapons manufacturing violates the ethics of the university. Organizers refused the deal and announced that they had done so close to midnight Sunday night.

Yale and New Haven police began arriving on scene around 6:30 a.m.

Watch footage of Monday morning’s protest here and here.

Classes at Yale are set to resume Monday.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Thomas Breen contributed to this report.

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.