Members of the Quinobequin Student Front For Palestine set up tents outside the George Sherman Union Monday late afternoon to protest the killing of Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif and Boston University’s investments in companies supporting Israel.
Over 30 protesters with the QSFP gathered in front of the George Sherman Union and set up an encampment with a large banner, signs, music and tents around 5 p.m. They disbanded around 8:05 p.m..
Shortly after the encampment began, around one dozen BU and Boston police officers spread out around the protestors and locked the GSU doors facing Commonwealth Avenue. By the time the group disbanded, there were at least 25 police vehicles lining Comm. Ave. from the GSU to the College of Arts and Sciences.
The group rejected the GSU’s name, saying it was “named for a wealthy Boston robber baron.” They “renamed” the area the “Anas Al-Sharif Union” after a martyred Palestinian journalist, according to a statement posted to QSFP’s Instagram. The new name will create a “microcosm of a world that is possible,” the statement reads.
“We will transform this space into a base for struggle, collective education, and resistance against the institutions that fund, legitimize, and profit from genocide,” QSFP wrote in the post.
QSFP listed four continued demands in the post: financial divestment, boycotting complicit institutions, amnesty and reinstatement for students and staff and Immigration and Customs Enforcement off the University’s campus.
Students and staff gathered around the area at the sight of protesters and police presence.
Senior Victor Pelatere, who witnessed the event, said he was “so proud” the encampment was in a visible location.
“For us to be able to say something out loud about an ongoing genocide, about an absolute slaughter, that they are telling us to not believe with our very eyes, is empowering,” Pelatere said.
At 7:10 p.m., a QSFP speaker addressed the crowd.
“Gaza has been made small by the Israeli occupation forces,” the speaker said. “We are showing the people of Gaza that we stand with them, with our own tents, with our banners, with our signs.”
Around 7:49 p.m., QSFP posted, “Admin and police are already threatening to descend on our students.”
Massachusetts State Police were witnessed on the scene around 8:00 p.m. Around the same time, a BUPD officer spoke on a megaphone saying protesters needed to immediately leave the area.
“If you do not immediately disperse, you will be arrested,” the officer said.
Junior Sophia Orr said the police reaction to the protesters made her feel “uneasy.”
“I think other students can definitely agree that the way [BUPD officers] swarm a peaceful protest definitely makes us a little bit uncomfortable, especially with the current state of ICE and current police interactions with the public,” Orr said. “I don’t think this was their best way to go about it.”
Freshman Andrea Kellerman said the encampment makes her feel “horrible” as a Jewish student.
“I believe in free speech, but not blocking a dining hall and making other students feel unsafe,” Kellerman said.
BU administration has been seen at the site telling students not to enter the encampment, according to QSFP’s Instagram story.
“It really is a moment to reflect on our freedom of speech, on our freedom to protest, on our freedom to say what’s right and from wrong,” Pelatere said.
Tavishi Chattopadhyay, Phoebe Miller and Jenny Chen contributed reporting.