Emory lecturer arrested at pro-Palestine camp claims she was taken away in handcuffs after intervening in cop beating of student
Noëlle McAfee said she was arrested as a young protester was being hit by police
By Kamal Sultan
Daily Mail
Apr 27, 2024
Emory University professor Noëlle McAfee has claimed she was arrested at a pro-Palestine protest on campus after she told police officers to stop hitting a student
An Emory University professor has claimed she was arrested at a pro-Palestine protest on campus after she told police officers to stop hitting a student.
Noëlle McAfee, who leads the philosophy department at the school in Atlanta, was seen on video being led away in handcuffs on Thursday afternoon.
She claimed she was arrested after intervening in an incident where a young protester was thrown to the ground by officers and being pummeled.
'I was watching them pummel somebody, I said, "no." And they arrested me,' she told 11Alive.
The lecturer added that it is a misconception that she was there to support the Palestinian protest but that she was 'standing up for students and their freedom of expression'.
Noëlle McAfee, who leads the philosophy department at the school in Atlanta, was seen on video being led away in handcuffs on Thursday afternoon
McAfee insisted she was non-confrontational during the ordeal but had to get involved when she saw a student thrown to the ground and being hit by officers.
'The mother in me said "stop, stop",' she said. 'And I made sure to stand four feet away from them, standing still, nonconfrontational.
'One of the cops stood up and got right in front of me and said, "Ma'am, you need to step back, you need to step back."
'And I was watching them pummel somebody, I said, "no." And they arrested me.'
The professor added that the incident seemed to go on forever.
'Punching and rolling and knocking and punching, this child was just - their head was like this, trying to protect themselves. I don't know how long it went on,' she said.
'And when they said, "ma'am you need to step away," no human being is going to step away.'
She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and a court date will be set for next month.
'Just to even question the police power was a violation. My disorderly conduct was that I stood there,' the professor said.
Emory University lecturer Caroline Fohlin screamed 'I'm a professor' after cops forcefully took her to the ground during her arrest at a Gaza solidarity protest on campus
She was wrestled to the concrete by a cop after she tried to intervene during the arrest of another demonstrator
The professor refused a cops order to get on the ground before the officer forced her down
'I stood on my campus, I stood to prevent somebody being beaten to death, so that was disorderly conduct.'
McAfee said people have thanked her for standing up for Gaza but that they're mistaken and she has 'complicated sets of views about the conflict'.
She added that she was just standing up for the students' right to protest and there was an 'issue of higher education administrators clamping down on free expression and delegitimizing any dissent'.
'I wanted an opportunity for peaceful expression of their views, peaceful dissent. That was my concern.'
The professor claimed it is false to say there were outside agitators at the protest.
'There were perhaps some students here from other universities,' she added.
'But the students I've spoken with who are organizing it are Emory students that I've known for years.
'They said outside agitators, I think the outside agitators were the Atlanta police and the Georgia state troopers. They were the agitators.'
McAfee believes the scenes on Thursday, which included an Emory University lecturer screaming 'I'm a professor' as she was forcefully taken to the ground by cops, could have been avoided.
Fohlin was later booked into DeKalb County jail on charges of disorderly conduct and battery of a police officer
Cops used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters at the Georgia University. Fohlin had been attempting to intervene in the arrest pictured prior to her own
Videos showed Atlanta Police officers and Georgia State Troopers wrestling clashing with demonstrators, including one student tasered by an officer as he lay in the grass
The scenes on Thursday echoed similar ones at colleges across the country as pro Palestine students demand their institutions divest from companies with links to Israel
A demonstrator was also seen being tasered by an officer. It is unclear what led up this moment
Economics professor Caroline Fohlin was wrestled to the concrete by a cop after she tried to intervene during the arrest of another demonstrator.
The academic, 57, was among the faculty arrested at a pro Palestine encampment at the Georgia college on Thursday, which was dispersed by cops using tear gas and rubber bullets.
Fohlin was booked into DeKalb County jail on charges of disorderly conduct and battery of a police officer.
McAfee said: 'What's really bad here is the president of the university, or his office, did this.
'The police will do their thing, but the president of the university called them... so the larger issue is not about police, because police will be police, but an administration that called police onto our campus.'
Emory's vice president for public safety claimed the police were called after a few protesters refused to confirm their connection to the university.
1 comment:
I guess she thinks professors are exempt from obeying the law. I am pretty sure she is wrong.
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