The university’s response was likely the quickest show of police force in response to a divestment protest among the dozens nationwide that have occurred in recent weeks. It was also probably the only one where pepper balls, stun guns and rubber bullets were used against students, faculty and community members – at one of the few student protests in the south to date.

  • Jo Miran
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    5415 days ago

    Gen-X here. I am very curious to find out what percentage of Boomers that were very much so in favor of the university campus protests against the Vietnam war are now calling these Zoomers terrorists and justifying the use of force by the police.

    • @Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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      2615 days ago

      The university is not publicly owned, they can have people removed under various laws like trespassing or disturbing the peace. They aren’t exactly being removed and arrested because of what they are saying, but because they are rightfully upsetting the university by being there and being a nuisance.

      If I am at your house protesting you eating meat and I set up my camp on your front lawn, you can have the police remove me by force after I have been asked to leave and my rights would not be violated in that removal. Same sort of thing is going on with the university protests.

      If they were protesting in a public park and had all the permits they needed(permitted protest is a funny concept) and violated zero laws(while protesting lol), then the police came and ordered them to disperse, they didn’t, then the police began using riot control tactics and arresting people, that would violate first amendment law.

      • Flying Squid
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        15 days ago

        True about Emory. Not true about places like Ohio State and Indiana University, where there have been violent police reprisals and many arrests.

        • @Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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          115 days ago

          For public entities, the protest can be considered unlawful and not violating rights by the bad actions of individuals which then causes police intervention, which then riles the crowd, and then it snowballs from there. Once the crowd is considered riotous, the whole thing becomes unlawful assembly. We saw this in Portland and Seattle years ago.

          All it takes is one person committing assault or battery on another person and then the cops have writ to act as they see fit, this includes throwing a waterbottle at a cop that is full or empty or shoving someone. There is no real chance that any level of lawful police action will maintain the peace when you have groups of energized unhappy people. Just having police there agitates the crowd, not having police there allows bad actors to undermine the protest/peace and that leads to the police showing up.

          If everybody protesting stood 6 ft apart holding signs in silence and did not react to agitators, they could keep protesting so long as no other laws prohibited it(like curfew). Unfortunately there are always idiots in any group and someone is going to overstep the line and cause the whole thing to devolve into chaos fuled by lawful police action.

          • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            113 days ago

            SCOTUS has specifically rejected that argument. As at that point all you’d need is one infiltrator to shut down any protest.

    • @stoly@lemmy.world
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      715 days ago

      The first amendment only applies to public institutions. The private ones can tell you to screw off.

  • @bartolomeo@suppo.fi
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    2115 days ago

    Israel would strip Americans of their rights and destroy social order for their own political gain. Some ally.

  • @s38b35M5@lemmy.world
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    1315 days ago

    Charges for peaceful demonstration? Sounds like a violation with no qualified immunity to me. But in the 11th district… Not too hopeful for justice.

  • @Tryptaminev@lemm.ee
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    315 days ago

    You are free to do as we tell you…

    It is insane how the US is not only destroying the international order built after ww2 to keep Israel genocidal war criminals out of consequences, but also now crack down on their own citizens to abolish constitutional rights. And this doesn’t happen under Trump. This happens under Biden and the Democrats.

    You are lied to be your political class. You are robbed by your political class. And by voting “the lesser of two evils” every time, all you get is the next election being between the evil you wanted to prevent before and a worse evil.

    • @wahming@monyet.cc
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      214 days ago

      This happens under Biden and the Democrats.

      Are you implying Biden has any sort of say over what happens on private university campuses, and state police?

      • @Tryptaminev@lemm.ee
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        013 days ago

        Yes he does.

        Look at the timeline for Columbia and other universities. The heads got shunned for allegedly allowing antisemitism, by allowing students to voice a different opinion than the US mainstrem on Israel and Palestine.

        If Biden wouldn’t take the stance of pretending human rights to be an issue, while illegally by US rules arming IDF units the US recognizes as war criminals, by continuously blocking any motion at the UN to facilitate a ceasefire or a way for membership of Palestine, he and is administration are creating the environment in which it is deemed encouraged to crack down on peaceful protests.

        • @wahming@monyet.cc
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          113 days ago

          The heads got shunned for allegedly allowing antisemitism, by allowing students to voice a different opinion than the US mainstrem on Israel and Palestine.

          Not sure how you link any of this to Biden. You seem to think everything bad that happens is his fault somehow, when the reality is none of it is actually within his control.

          while illegally by US rules arming IDF units

          You mean the funding Bill that has gone through approval by both the Democrats and Republicans? While I hate it, I’m not sure how you would consider that illegal.

          creating the environment in which it is deemed encouraged to crack down on peaceful protests.

          And you believe that TRUMP would be more respectful of civil rights, somehow? The dictator-for-a-day? Leader of the party that’s currently stripping females of their rights and encouraging persecution of LGBTs? Who is known for favouring anybody who books his hotels for a few days? And declaredIsraeli West Bank settlements legal?

          • @Tryptaminev@lemm.ee
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            013 days ago

            when the reality is none of it is actually within his control.

            Biden is not in control of his press statements? Biden is not in control of what he is saying?

            While I hate it, I’m not sure how you would consider that illegal.

            The US must not send weapons to armies or groups that are obstructing US humanitarian efforts or commit war crimes with those weapons. There is strong evidence that the state department knows about both of these occurrences so it is very likely to violate that law.

            See https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/28/politics/state-department-israel-gaza-international-law-us-weapons/index.html for instance

            And you believe that TRUMP would be more respectful of civil rights, somehow?

            Well the Democrats are know doing most of what they criticised Trump for doing. Arm a genocide, crackdown on immigrants, run internment camps at the border, separating children from their parents, building a wall… Note that this is not a new pattern. Obama also was happy to expand the war on terror and keep Guantanamo running. And that is what you get for saying “we have to vote democrats, because they are not as bad as republicans.” You get the same policies from the democrats that you tried to prevent from the republicans and the republicans just escalate. The democrats are a far right party with LGBT rights by international standards. But don’t believe that they would defend LGBT rights, when push comes to shove.

  • @some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    213 days ago

    The Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, issued a statement saying: “College campuses … in Georgia … will never be a safe haven for those who promote terrorism and extremism that threatens the safety of students.”

    Cause that’s what peaceful protest means. /s