Protest at Johns Hopkins against private police force ends in blowtorches, arrests and tears
Baltimore MD May 11 2019
Armed with bolt cutters and blowtorches, Baltimore firefighters and police officers smashed the glass on the front door of the Johns Hopkins University administration building and issued an ultimatum to protesters who have occupied the building for the past month.
“We’re giving you ample warning. You have amnesty. If you want you can walk away from this,” an officer can be seen saying, on the participants’ live feed this morning from inside Garland Hall.
But the occupiers, who were protesting the school’s private police force plan and ICE government contracts, held firm to their demand – that JHU president Ronald J. Daniels negotiate with them before they agree to leave.
Meanwhile. Daniels, who has essentially been locked out of his office by the action, has said he would not meet with the students until they left the building.
“The university has gone to great lengths to support protest and free expression on campus, but the occupation of Garland Hall became a major safety risk and severely disrupted university services,” a spokesperson said in a statement circulated today.
This was a reference to the protesters’ ramp-up a week ago, when they took over the building – locking its doors with chains.
As day dawned, scores of police officers, who poured onto the North Baltimore campus overnight, surrounded the building. Community members and the media also gathered. Chanting could be heard inside the building and out, while a helicopter hovered overhead.
“We have said from Day One that we want to negotiate in earnest,” a voice replied to the officer issuing the ultimatum. “This is not in earnest – sending in police and threatening us.”
At about 5:30 a.m., the BPD arrested five people who had been inside the building: three community members, one undergraduate and one graduate student. Police said they were all charged with trespassing.
“We love you,” supporters yelled while the five were walked to waiting police vans, their hands cuffed behind their backs with plastic ties. “Black lives matter!”
But the arrests did not end there.
One of the five – Opal, a trans community member who identifies as a woman – was put into the men’s van.
Upon hearing this, people dashed behind Garland Hall to the place where the vans were being loaded. Opal was being misgendered, they said. Officers rebuffed them and the dialogue grew increasingly heated especially after one officer’s remark ignited outrage.
“Your friend is a man!” he declared brusquely.
“You don’t know shit about gender,” one person screamed back at him, as the angry crowd boiled up around the police. Two people lay down on the ground in front of one of the vans to stop them from driving away.
The two were arrested and charged with impeding vehicle traffic, police said.
Police said they warned the protesters multiple times and offered them academic and criminal immunity before the decision was made to arrest them.
Melba Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office, said in a statement that those arrested would not be prosecuted.
Baltimore Brew
