Nearly 70 arrested as police clear pro-Palestinian encampment at Art Institute of Chicago

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

A pro-Palestinian encampment set up Saturday outside the Art Institute of Chicago was cleared by Chicago police hours after it went up to protest the Israel-Hamas war, leading to nearly 70 arrests, officials said.

Students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with the group SAIC Students for Palestinian Liberation assembled shortly before noon at the museum's North Garden, near Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street.

The group said they were staging the protests to demand the school and museum disclose its investments, give amnesty to demonstrators and divest from those supporting the "occupation of Palestine."

Crowds started forming shortly after about a dozen protesters began setting up tents and hung a large sign that read "Free Palestine." The first arrest was made around the time the encampment was set up as police tried to push protesters away from Monroe Street at Michigan Avenue, a Sun-Times reporter observed.

Growing to several hundred demonstrators, including students and faculty, students from other universities and passersby who joined, they were met by dozens of Chicago police officers who set up barricades to stop protesters from moving onto the sidewalk on Monroe Street. Scuffles broke out between police and protesters at times.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who was at the University of Chicago encampment Saturday while protesters were confronted by counter protesters, spoke with police, along with a liaison from the mayor's office, National Lawyer's Guild representatives and one of the organizers.

"The Art Institute of Chicago respects a group’s right to peacefully protest without harming staff and visitors," a spokesperson for the museum said in a statement. "As [the protest] progressed, protesters surrounded and shoved a security officer and stole their keys to the museum, blocked emergency exits, and barricaded gates."

The museum offered another site for the protest "because our priority is the safety of our employees, our visitors, and our collection," the museum spokesperson said, but protesters "did not accept that relocation offer."

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

In a statement, the police department said officers spent more than two hours negotiating with demonstrators to clear the area without arrests.

"During multiple rounds of negotiations, SAIC student protesters were promised amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges if they agreed to relocate. The School also agreed to meet with a student group to discuss their demands," the museum spokesperson said.

Police then gave three dispersal orders before officers broke through demonstrators who had formed a human chain about 4:30 p.m.

Police said 68 people were taken into custody and would be charged with criminal trespass to property.

Those outside the encampment chanted "hands off our students" and "shame on you."

The majority of the crowd had dispersed by 5:30 p.m.

A day earlier, Mayor Brandon Johnson and CPD Supt. Larry Snelling said they didn't want to "unnecessarily escalate" and had deferred the plans to universities where the protests were taking place.

"If it’s not necessary for us to go in and attempt to start removing people, then we won’t," Snelling told reporters Friday.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times