Georgia Democrats condemn "dangerous escalation" after police detain Emory University protesters

During a pro-Palestine protest at Emory University, two professors were detained and 28 protesters were arrested, including 20 Emory community members, CNN reported Thursday.

Those detained by Georgia state police included economics professor Caroline Fohlin and the chair of the school's philosophy department, Noëlle McAfee.

During her interaction with police, filmed by CNN, Fohlin could be heard expressing concern about violent arrests and the use of force by police against individuals she identified as students. Troopers used Tasers and fired pepper balls at protesters “to control" what law enforcement described as an "unruly crowd."

Georgia’s attorney general, Chris Carr, a Republican, defended efforts to clear campuses of protesters. He wrote on X that he “proudly" supported actions taken by universities that would “protect the health and safety of Georgia's students.”

“Nobody has the legal right to shut down our schools by camping out and making antisemitic threats,” he said.

But Democratic Georgia state lawmakers are condemning the “excessive force used by Georgia State Patrol” seen at Emory. The use of "extreme anti-riot tactics" is not safe and “is a dangerous escalation to protests which were by all accounts peaceful and nonviolent,” read a statement signed by 11 Democrats and posted on X by Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian-American.

The Democratic Georgia state lawmakers argued that some Georgia leaders have created an environment where “state police feel free or perhaps are directed — to respond to normal peaceful protests with violence.”

Some protesters have responded to the use of police force by fighting back. A video captured by WSB-TV shows some protesters at Emory pushing into a line of police officers with large posters. The officers, whose backs are against the doors of a school building, succumbed to pushing back.

The ACLU of Georgia expressed concern over law enforcement’s response to the protests.

“The freedom to protest without retribution is essential to our democracy. Atlanta has historically been a place where citizens could freely exercise their rights to protest, but we have unfortunately seen a series of unconstitutional crackdowns on speech and protest across Georgia in recent years,” it said in a statement. “Colleges and universities should be places where viewpoints, expression, debate, and free speech are encouraged, not suppressed.”