I’m chained at my desk this afternoon but I’m getting word about arrests resulting from a protest at UWM.
I just spoke with Mike Gold, a UWM student, who reported that the campus police used mace on 7 to 8 students and at least 15 people were arrested. They protesters were told that it was an unlawful assembly.
Gold said the protesters merely wanted to talk to Chancellor Carlos Santiago but that he refused to speak with him. Gold said that students saw Santiago enter the building, so that he was on site for at least some of the protest.
“We were going to the chancellor to ask that he take a pay cut before cutting the salaries of all of the workers underneath him,” Gold said. “We showed up unarmed, with our signs, and they used brutal police repression instead of having him come out to talk to us.”
The JS is reporting that students were throwing snowballs.
But SDS's Kas Schwedrtferger said not to believe the hype about the snowballs. Very few were thrown.
"I know that the administration is coming out with this message that the students were out of control, but we weren't," Schwedrtferger said.
He said the supporters include a coalition of faculty, students and staff. "Basically the entire university," he said.
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UPDATE: Here's UWM's response.
Here’s what Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) are reporting in their press release:
Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society Condemn Police Brutality, Demands Justice, Continues the Struggle for Education Rights
18 arrested, 250 rally for education rights at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the March 4 National Day of Action for Education Rights
Students for a Democratic Society is an organization that stands for social justice, peace, and equality. In the face of massive budget cuts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, we helped form a campus-wide coalition for education rights, called the UWM Education Rights Campaign, consisting of dozens of organizations, including the professor and teacher assistant union.
The campaign organized a peaceful demonstration on March 4th, part of a national day of action to defend education (www.defendeducation.com. The local campaign organized a speak-out to bring attention to our demands. The really ended in a march to Chapman Hall, to deliver petition signatures to a Chancellor that has thus far refused to meet with us, instead choosing to introduce us to more campus police and locked doors.
250 students, workers, professors, teacher assistants, and concerned community members gathered today to show their support for the UWM Education Rights Campaign. SDS believes we had a great event, and are proud of the students all around this country who rallied with us for education rights and stood their ground for over two hours as the police pepper sprayed, punched, and arrested over 18 people.
"It is difficult to express how outraged we are of the use of police repression against a peaceful protest," commented student organizer Jacob Flom. "We are outraged by the Chancellor’s unwillingness to come and meet with the peaceful assembly. Our thoughts and prayers go out tonight to the students who have been attacked, arrested, pepper sprayed, and injured. This campaign was about the tens of thousands of youth in our impoverished city who have absolutely no hope of attending this university due to a gutless university administration and politicians who instead give billions to war, occupation, and bank bail-outs."
Read more about Students for a Democratic Society here: www.sdsmke.com. The UWM Education Rights Campaign can be read more about at www.educationrightscampaign.com.
