Thursday night's Union Station protest. (Updated) Transit police said they arrested nine protesters at Union Station during a demonstration against U.S. support for military aid to Israel.
The protest took place Thursday.
It began around 3:30 p.m. on the Green. Campus groups — Yalies4Palestine, Yale Law Students for Justice in Palestine, Citywide Youth Coalition, Students for Justice in Palestine at UConn, and Owls for Justice in Palestine — organized the event, which drew around 100 protesters. Speeches included a call for voters to cast votes for “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary to protest the Biden administration’s support for Israel. Protesters also criticized the Board of Alders for delaying on considering and voting on a proposed nonbinding resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Some participants in the Green protest then decided to march down Elm Street to Union Station. Around 5 p.m., leaders of the march pointed out U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s 59 Elm St. office.
“You can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” the marchers chanted toward the Congresswoman’s office as city cops directed rush-hour traffic to other streets.
“Protesters demand that Rep. Rosa DeLauro stop voting to fund the genocide in Gaza and commit to divestment from the Israeli war machine,” an alert released by “March 28 Action” organizers read. “This is a call for an end to business as usual while Palestinian lives are taken by Israel and communities are decimated by weapons funded by Connecticut taxpayers.”
On Friday DeLauro’s office released this statement from the Congresswoman in response: ““I respect people’s right to protest. We are a democracy and freedom of speech is one of our founding principles. I have worked hard to get humanitarian aid into Gaza before and during this conflict. I have called for an immediate ceasefire of at least six weeks so we can free hostages and move humanitarian aid into the region.”
One participant in Thursday’s Green protest rally said that a separate group of protesters unaffiliated with the Green organizers had set up an action at Union Station, not as part of the official Green protest; and that some people marched on their own to the train station in support.
Once protesters entered Union Station, the NHPD handed over responsibility for handling the protest to Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) police.
Some protesters proceeded to sit down to block access to the escalators and stairway leading down to the station’s subterranean walkway to the tracks. Others sat at the bottom of the stairs and escalators.
MTA officers ordered protesters to clear access to the trains. Most of the protesters “exited the station” by 11 p.m., according to MTA spokesperson Dave Steckel. Nine protesters who remained in place were arrested on misdemeanor charges of second-degree breach of peace, intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm or recklessly creating a risk thereof. They were “ejected” from the station, issued summonses, and released, according to Steckel.
After that, an estimated 20 protesters remained outside and allegedly chained themselves together in the road on Union Avenue.
After speaking with police, some of the protesters left. Others sat chained to each other on the steps in front of the police station, according to Police Chief Karl Jacobson. They departed a short time later; city police made no arrests.
The Yale chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine issued a statement of the protest. “If today’s action demonstrated that even small interruptions can have significant consequences — when our children, parents, and loved ones do not arrive home to us on time, we note their absences and begin to worry — it is also a reminder that the U.S.-backed siege on Gaza has left more than 30,000 families to face the devastating reality that their loved ones will never return home to them in this lifetime,” the statement read in part.