Bricks thrown at police, Northwestern University students pepper-sprayed in off-campus clash as protesters again call on university to defund its police

EVANSTON, Ill. — After leaving campus, protesters from Northwestern University who were demonstrating Saturday night clashed with Evanston authorities, and a school spokesman said both students and officers reported dangerous conditions from attacks by the other side.

Jon Yates, a spokesman with the university, said he had been in contact with the department and was told officers used pepper spray on Northwestern University students after bricks and other objects were thrown at authorities.

Yates said Evanston police told him some protesters also shined high-powered lasers into the eyes of police officers and threw lit fireworks and smoke bombs at the officers. In response, the officers deployed the pepper spray and arrested the student, he said he was told. Evanston police did not immediately provide details but Brian Henry, a police spokesman, confirmed the events as Yates described them.

“As we have stated before, Northwestern strongly supports the free expression of ideas and vigorous debate, abiding principles that are fundamental to our University,” Yates said in an emailed statement. “Northwestern protects the right to protest, but we do not condone breaking the law. Should members of the Northwestern community be found in violation of University policies, state or federal laws, they will be held accountable through our processes.”

The student was released from custody early Sunday and the university was awaiting additional information, Yates said. The Northwestern University Police Department was not involved after protesters marched beyond the University’s jurisdiction, he added.

The protest began at 9 p.m. at the John Evans Alumni Center, according to a social media flyer of the protest. The post said that personal protective equipment masks were required and asked that people wear all black and bring umbrellas. Chicago police, who said they were not involved or asked to assist, have in the past decried the use of umbrellas by protesters to shield from police view protesters who are planning or carrying out attacks on officers.

The protest was organized by NU Community Not Cops, which began marching daily on Oct. 12, according to The Daily Northwestern. Messages sent to the group were not returned.

A Northwestern University student, who asked not to be named out of fear for his safety, said he has attended more than half a dozen protests as a supporter and he believes the attack from law enforcement may be the result of public statements made by University President Morton Schapiro staunchly opposing the protests organized by students.

A Northwestern University student, who asked not to be named out of fear for his safety, noted the heightened response from law enforcement follows public statements made by University President Morton Schapiro, in which he staunchly opposed the protests.

“I think it was a direct result of the inflammatory rhetoric used by President Schapiro last week in calling the protests an abomination and asking not to lose our sense of humanity … ,” he said.

“It reminded me of something I would’ve heard from a southern governor during the Civil Rights marches,” the student said. “He said there would be swift and harsh punishment and all that.”

The student said he became part of the movement because he doesn’t think Northwestern should have a police force and he believes it should disclose the department’s budget. Yates did not answer specific questions about the budget but pointed to an Oct. 27 statement from Schapiro that said a review of the university’s police department “by external consultants will continue through this fall, and we will share a public report when the review is complete. We also are finding ways to provide more information regularly about the inner workings of (campus police), including an overview of its budget by November 16.”

Student protesters said the demonstration was to demand the abolishment of the university’s police department and said they believe the group was pepper-sprayed in response to another of Schapiro’s posts, one published Oct. 19 in which he condemned the ongoing protests. He wrote that he recognizes the injustices faced by Black and other marginalized groups, but that the university has no intention to abolish its police.

In the statement, Schapiro added that the organizers of the ongoing protests were intent on provoking university police into retaliation. He called the protests an “abomination” and that the protesters should be ashamed of themselves.

“What started as peaceful protests have recently grown into expressions that have been anything but peaceful or productive. Crowds blocked the streets of downtown Evanston and nearby residential areas, disrupting businesses and local families, defacing property and violating laws and University standards. Some of the instigators appear not to be Northwestern students at all, but rather outside activists,” he wrote.

At the protests, police have followed the marchers on foot or on bicycles but there had never been a physical encounter between the police and protesters until Saturday, according to the student who spoke with the Tribune.

The student was unsure what caused the officers to deploy the gas, but he said protesters were throwing poppers on the ground in a direction away from the police at points during the march.

“I started coughing, trying to hold the line,” he said. “I’m thankful it didn’t escalate any further than that. … My hands were shaking. I was terrified.”

Officers began pushing students down the street, he said. Medics who were recruited by the protesters tended to people who were affected by the aerosol.

The Northwestern Community Not Cops group wrote on Twitter that one person was arrested during the protest and taken to the Evanston Police Department station.

In the Oct. 27 letter, Schapiro wrote that the university acknowledges “serious and pressing issues in policing across our nation,” and said the school “will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that our campus police protect every member of the Northwestern community, especially those who are most vulnerable.”

The university is also committed to holding regular meetings with student groups including NU Community Not Cops, the statement said.

He also wrote that the university is establishing a community safety oversight advisory board, made up of faculty, staff and student representatives “who are tasked with strengthening relationships with our public safety team and with the campus community.”

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