Dozens of SUNY Purchase students, faculty allegedly arrested at pro-Palestinian encampment

Several SUNY Purchase students and professors were allegedly arrested Thursday night after peaceful demonstrations at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus quad, protesters said.

Around 35 students and six faculty members were led out of the encampment near the college's dining hall campus in handcuffs by police around 10:15 p.m. according to Christoph Sawyer, 30, a SUNY Purchase alum and participant in Thursday night's demonstrations.

On a live Instagram video taken by a member of student political group Raise the Consciousness, protesters sat silently in a circle around the encampment while a helicopter flew overhead. A heavy police presence was seen a couple hundred feet away from the protesters until they moved toward the group and began grabbing members out of the circle.

University police, Westchester County Police and the New York State Police were all present at the encampment and visible on the video.

"Everything I've observed has been peaceful,' Sawyer said to the Journal News while on the scene of the protest. "There have been state and county police here since around 5 p.m. this afternoon."

"I think that this momentum to support Gaza and divest in Israel is growing. The students are our future and I think they have the right idea," Sawyer said. "I think it's important to support the students while they speak their voices and support their free speech. I stand in solidarity with the students and I think what they're asking for is important."

The encampment was erected around 5:10 p.m. in response to the conflict to Israel's actions in its war with Hamas and in support of Palestinan people, according to reporting from the Purchase Phoenix, the campus student newspaper.

Around 65 community members arrived with food, tents, flags and signs and were prepared to sleep in the quad overnight to protest Israel's military action in its war with Hamas and demand SUNY Purchase's full divestment from any entity supporting Israel.

On its Instagram, Raise the Consciousness said it demands that SUNY Purchase fully "divest from companies with ties to the Zionist entity and from any defense contractor, weapons manufacturer or surveillance company in the form of investments."

The group is also demanding an acknowledgment of the death of thousands of Palestinians, which it says is a genocide. The current conflict escalated when Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7.

Sawyer said police had asked the group to leave several times since the camp was erected but the protesters remained. An email sent out to students from Patricia Bice, vice president of Student Affairs at the university, said the protesters had a right to demonstrate as long as it remained peaceful. Bice said around 50 non-students were turned away around 5 p.m.

"The students are peacefully protesting, as is their right, as long as they follow guidelines and rules set by SUNY and the campus," she wrote. "We are committed to maintaining that right and the safety of the entire campus so that all members are free to learn, work and live without disruption or bias."

Around 11:40, police officers began to leave the campus. Sawyer said students cheered as various police vehicles pulled out of the area.

No injuries were reported and the exact number of community members escorted off campus is still unclear.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Purchase students, faculty allegedly arrested at encampment