(LibertySociety.com) – Long-shot presidential hopeful, Jill Stein, was arrested on April 27 in St. Louis while attending an anti-Israel rally inside an encampment at Washington University in St. Louis.
The Green Party candidate’s campaign manager, Jason Call, told one media outlet that the reason the encampment was erected was to demand “specifically for the university to divest from Boeing.” He added that the company made weaponry for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to aid “in the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.” Boeing has a manufacturing facility in St. Charles, a suburb of St. Louis. Call said that Stein supported the students’ demands and the peaceful gathering.
Stein was among 100 individuals arrested during the protest. Two members of her campaign staff were also arrested. She said that she was charged for allegedly assaulting a police officer, but said that the police assaulted her and others with their bicycle handlebars. Washington University told one media outlet that the protestors violated school policy when they set up the encampment. This led to police ordering the protestors to leave, but they refused. After multiple requests for voluntary evacuation of the area, police moved in and began making arrests and tearing down the encampment.
Video footage showed protesters refusing to comply with the officers’ commands. In one portion of the video, an officer used his bicycle to hold back the crowd, although it is unclear if the protestors had attempted to take the bike before the footage began. Stein was front and center with a death grip on the bike, pushing toward the officer. A statement from the university revealed that just 23 of the protestors were students at the university. Four others were staff members.
The statement also said that all 100 were facing trespassing charges, but others could be charged with assaulting police officers and resisting during their arrest. Three officers were injured during the incident, including one with a serious concussion. Stein claimed that the university’s decision to break up the encampment trampled on free speech, but she ignored that protestors knowingly violated university policy against encampments.
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