UPDATE: There does not yet appear to be any publicly-posted video of the time period when police first entered the encampment en masse, but reports from eyewitnesses suggest it was pretty ugly. Support crew did a good job of identifying and keeping track of every person arrested (there is, btw, a bail fund set up to which you can contribute — God knows, it’s going to get tapped out fast: rvabailfund.org/...) but those names, and the total number of arrests have not yet been released.
This video posted by the Richmond Times-Dispatch starts, unsurprisingly, after the police had effectively squelched the encampment and were into the “round up and mop up” phase — tear gas had been deployed and discontinued already, and officers were now using hand-held chemical irritants (I am assuming pepper spray but do not know for certain):
We are currently 26 signatures short of our original goal — please add your name to the petition to support students’ right to protest at VCU!
ORIGINAL DIARY:
Hi folks! The students at Virginia Commonwealth University here in Richmond just began a long-term on-campus action at VCU today, protesting Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip. This evening, they are being met by state and city police in riot gear, who are currently arresting student protesters at VCU right now.
I know there are wide divergences of opinion on this website about Israel’s actions in Gaza. I am not, with this diary, attempting to sway anyone — but if you do feel our college students have the right to protest on campus, at least where they have been doing so peacefully and in what strikes me as a responsible manner as they are here in Richmond, please take a moment to sign a petition to VCU president Michael Rao urging him to “publicly support the right of VCU students, as well as faculty, staff, and alumni, to peacefully protest, engage in free speech, and exercise academic freedom.”
If this is an important topic to you, please support them with a signature here!
Video from this afternoon’s protest is available on YouTube, but please sign the petition first.