The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has opened a preliminary investigation into complaints against Chicago officers at a pro-Palestinian protest near the Art Institute of Chicago on Saturday, officials confirmed.
COPA opened a preliminary investigation to determine whether it or the police department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs will take over the inquiry into officer conduct.
CPD said COPA had its “full cooperation” for the investigation but didn’t comment further.
A Sun-Times reporter captured video Saturday of police and protesters pushing and shoving as cops attempted to move demonstrators from West Monroe Street back onto the sidewalk of South Michigan Avenue.
The video, posted to X, formally known as Twitter, shows one officer pushing a protester in the head with his open hand and then doing the same to another protester.
Guidelines for the police department require members to only use force that’s “objectively reasonable, necessary, and proportional in order to ensure the safety of a member or third person, stop an attack, make an arrest, control a subject, or prevent escape.”
This occurred a few hours before police cleared the encampment, arresting 68 people related to trespassing charges at the request of the museum.
The People’s Art Institute, one of the groups that put together the encampment, said at least five protesters, including two who were arrested, were taken to hospitals after police swept the encampment.
They accused law enforcement of yanking people’s hair, strangling them, and hitting people with batons and metal fences at the protest outside the gate — in addition to hitting, elbowing, and slamming protesters to the ground and stepping on them during the arrests.
“Unnecessary violence and aggression were the norm,” the group said in a statement Monday. “Many people who were arrested were injured, and two arrested students needed to be taken to the ER.”
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 [School of the Art Institute of Chicago] 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.
But organizers said Martin Berger, SAIC provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, initially gave them until 6 a.m. Sunday to consider this offer of relocation.
Student liaisons from the People’s Art Institute say they asked for the deadline to be moved to 10 a.m. and Berger informed them that “he would see what he could do.”
At 3:30 p.m., members of the People’s Art Institute said they met to discuss the proposal. But 30 minutes later, organizers said Berger rejected the 10 a.m. deadline, rescinded the prior offer of 6 a.m. and announced the SWAT team would be entering the garden within seven minutes.
School administration said the word “SWAT” was never mentioned. The school also said it was in discussions with organizers for several hours and made multiple offers but “as the day continued the situation became increasingly unsafe.”
On Friday, Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said they didn’t want to unnecessarily escalate any protests by having police interfere, and deferred decisions to the owners of the property where protests take place.
“Individuals on [the Art Institute’s] private property, they wanted them removed,” Johnson said at an unrelated news conference Monday. “When AIC made that request, obviously the police department reacted. Look, my ultimate desire and goal is to ensure that fundamental rights are protected and we’re working to keep people safe, and that was accomplished.”
It also comes as the city prepares to see a large number of protesters ahead of the Democratic National Convention, including new policies such as one regarding mass arrests the department is calling “coordinated multiple arrests” — prompting some civil liberties groups to say the city isn’t prepared for August.
Last month the City Council approved a $750,000 settlement for a man whose leg was broken and ACL torn when he was allegedly clubbed by police during the demonstrations after the 2020 murder of George Floyd. In March, the city approved $52.75 million in settlements tied to alleged police abuse and wrongdoing, including a $45 million settlement for a then-15-year-old boy who suffered a traumatic brain injury after an unauthorized police chase.
Contributing: Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere
Doctors at Advocate Medical Group say the organization has fallen short in responding to ongoing humanitarian crises in Gaza, especially compared to donated aid and calls for peace after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
By Violet Miller
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Around 5 p.m. Friday, a large group of protesters had surrounded the Institute of Politics. Shortly after that, a group of police officers, equipped with riot shields, burst into the building and scuffled with protesters.
Gaza is now a humanitarian catastrophe, with madmen and murderers on every side.
By Gene Lyons
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
The encampment at the Lincoln Park campus had been been in place since April 30. The action came after school officials said they had reached an impasse with the protesters.
By Mary Norkol
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Students and faculty walked out of class to gather at the pro-Palestinian encampment and call for divestment from companies doing business with Israel.
By Isabel Funk
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Northwestern University President Michael Schill is expected to be grilled by lawmakers next week about his decision to negotiate with students.
The cancellation of the end-of-school-year music festival comes days after the university said it has reached a stalemate in negotiations with organizers of a pro-Palestinian encampment.
By Isabel Funk
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
On Tuesday, Chicago’s Jewish community celebrated Israel declaring its independence 76 years ago, on May 14, 1948. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered across the plaza. There were a few altercations, but no arrests were made.
By David Struett
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
The flags, along with signs and banners, had been placed on Deering Meadow, where a pro-Palestine encampment stood for five days before organizers reached an agreement with university administration.
By Sun-Times Wire
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Protesters’ demands have focused on divestment — demanding universities cut ties with Israel and businesses supporting the war in Gaza.
By Ellery Jones
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
The Israel-Hamas war is heightening fears of unrest, but convention leaders say they’re confident in their partnerships with Mayor Brandon Johnson, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling and the U.S. Secret Service.
By Tina Sfondeles
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
In a press conference at the school Thursday morning, students criticized university president Paul Alivisatos and shared their experiences when police began emptying the encampment early Tuesday.
By Mohammad Samra
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Rafah has become the most recent focus of Israel’s military, which describes it as Hamas’ last holdout. Chicago-based Dr. John Kahler has seen conditions deteriorate as Gazan refugees fled south to the city.
By David Struett
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
En la madrugada del martes, agentes del campus rodearon el patio principal de la universidad y les impidieron la entrada a los estudiantes, según informaron desde el lugar de los hechos.
By Mary Norkol
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
One protester said they were hit by an officer and taken to Thorek Memorial Hospital for treatment, according to a complaint filed with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
By Sophie Sherry
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Reality on the ground is different from what policymakers understand in war rooms, far from the constant sound of bombs and drones, a Chicago-area doctor who has volunteered in Gaza writes. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian American, walked out of a meeting with President Joe Biden about a month ago and is calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
After Oct. 7, chairs with the photos of hostages seized in Israel by Hamas were placed outside Am Shalom synagogue in Glencoe, waiting for the hostages’ release. “Our 248 chairs will stay up as long as they have to,” Am Shalom’s senior rabbi writes.
Around daybreak Tuesday, campus officers surrounded the university’s main quadrangle and kept students from entering, according to reports from the scene.
By Mary Norkol
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Según los informes, en el campus de Lincoln Park de DePaul los contra manifestantes intentaron enfrentarse a los manifestantes, pero los pro palestinos utilizaron tácticas de desescalada para mantener la paz. En todo el país se ha detenido a más de 2,500 manifestantes desde el 18 de abril.
The University of Chicago Faculty for Justice in Palestine on Monday reaffirmed support for the “peaceful, welcoming and educational space” students had created and called on school leadership to return to “good-faith” negotiations.
By Sophie Sherry
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
An official familiar with Israeli thinking says Israeli officials are examining the cease-fire proposal approved by Hamas. But the official warns that the plan “is not the framework Israel proposed.”
Counterprotesters at DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus reportedly tried to clash with pro-Palestinian protesters. Nationwide, more than 2,500 protesters have been arrested since April 18.
Police said the museum asked them to clear the encampment on Saturday, hours after organizers set up tents in the Art Institute’s North Garden which they said were intended to pressure the school regarding the “occupation of Palestine.”
On a mostly peaceful day, tensions briefly bubbled over when counter-protesters confronted the demonstrators at the university’s Edward Levi Hall. An altercation prompted campus police to respond.
Las protestas contra la guerra han invadido los campus universitarios en las últimas semanas. Los estudiantes apoyan a los palestinos en los ataques de Israel contra Gaza, denuncian lo que llaman censura por parte de sus universidades y piden a las instituciones que dejen de invertir en fabricantes de armas y empresas que apoyan a Israel.
By Nader Issa
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Classes disrupted, fellow students threatened, clashes with police, and the yo-yo story has to wait.
By Neil Steinberg
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
Tensions were higher Tuesday when hundreds of New York police officers raided Columbia University and City College of New York while a group of counterprotesters attacked a student encampment at UCLA.
The backlash comes days after the university made an agreement with encampment organizers to take steps toward divesting from Israel.
By Sophie Sherry
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
“I remember coming out of my apartment one day and spotting Chicago cops dragging young protesters out of one section of Lincoln Park and shoving them into trucks, while nearby poet Allen Ginsberg was chanting in a circle of peaceful protesters not far away from the radical Abby Hoffman,” remembers Dan Webb, who later became a U.S. attorney.
By Michael Sneed
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
El campus se une a las protestas en todo el país para pedir a las universidades que dejen de invertir en empresas que apoyan a Israel.
By Sophie Sherry
[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
