Tensions escalate amid competing protests at DePaul
CHICAGO — Tensions ran high in Lincoln Park on Sunday as pro-Palestinian student protestors from DePaul faced a line of counter-protestors on campus.
The atmosphere was calm on campus on Sunday afternoon, but it was a much different scene hours earlier when tensions escalated between demonstrators, leading to some altercations.
No arrests were made, but police did have to step in on a couple of occasions during the demonstrations.
“Obviously, right now, we are rallying, as we have been since I believe Tuesday, and then obviously we had a counter-protest and things escalated a little bit, but we got it back down,” DePaul sophomore Henna Ayesh said.
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According to Ayesh, things heated up on Sunday morning.
“There were, on the other side, a lot of Islamophobic remarks. The other side, the counter-protesters, were actually throwing rocks and sticks at us as well. But I’m proud of us, we stuck through it and we’re still here,” Ayesh said.
University officials issued alerts just before noon that said Chicago police needed to calm things down.
When WGN-TV crews arrived on the scene, officers were still present and some were quick to intervene as a scuffle broke out.
But across the street, a small group of pro-Israeli counter-protestors voiced their opinions on the demonstration.
“They need to promote a dialect and not just activism. This campus is supposed to be about science and education,” counter-protestor Kirill Magidson said.
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Magidson said he is not a student at Depaul, but felt that he needed to speak out against the recent protests.
‘I am a Northwestern graduate student, I came here just to support Israel and speak against what’s happening on campuses,” Magidson said.
Similar scenes have unfolded at college campuses around the country in recent weeks, as students call for greater financial transparency from their institutions.
Pro-Palestinian protestors say they will stay on campus for as long as it takes to see change.
Some negotiations between the university and protestors have taken place over the last few days, but no resolutions have been reached.
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