Protesters to Rally and March at 4:30PM on the Emory Quad

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 26, 2024

Protesters to Rally and March at 4:30PM on the Emory Quad

Students, community members alike demand Emory’s “total divestment from Israeli apartheid and Cop City” and an end to police violence against protesters

ATLANTA, GA — Yesterday, at 7:30am, nearly 50 people began erecting tents and banners to demand Emory University’s divestment from the genocide in Palestine and the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, more commonly known as “Cop City.” Within three hours, Emory University President Gregory Fenves called for the Emory Police Department, Atlanta Police Department, and Georgia State Patrol to end the protest by force.

All three agencies immediately conducted indiscriminate arrests. Police tased a student multiple times and threw a tenured Emory professor onto the ground, pressing her face against the concrete. At least 18 people were arrested, including students and tenured faculty. Georgia State Patrol—the same agency responsible for killing forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán—began firing pepper balls into the crowd.

“Emory and the Atlanta Police Foundation have tried to make it more dangerous to protest against a genocide than to commit one,” said Umaymah Mohammad in a press conference yesterday. Mohammad is a MD/PhD candidate in the Emory School of Medicine and Department of Sociology.

Police violence against protesters galvanized hundreds of people to flock to the Quad by the evening in support of the protesters’ demands, and the additional demand to drop all charges against protesters. Students and community members alike remain unwavering in their efforts to fight against the genocide in Palestine and Emory University’s institutional ties to the Israel Defense Forces.

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