But that’s about all anyone agrees on.
According to the university, the 100 to 150protesters were violent, and some punched and kicked and threw snowballs andice chunks at UWM police officers. The protesters say that police usedexcessive force while trying to break up a peaceful demonstration made up of250 students, organized by the UWM Education Rights Campaign, an alliance of 20organizations demanding a more fair budget for workers and students.
The ACLU of Wisconsin is asking for a publicinvestigation of events.
“It is unclear at this time whether or not thedemonstrators or the police violated the law,” stated ACLU of Wisconsin ExecutiveDirector Chris Ahmuty after the protest. “It is clear that a confrontationfollowing an unsuccessful attempt by some demonstrators to forcibly enter thechancellor’s office included the police using pepper spray, apparentlyconfiscating cell phones with cameras, and detaining and arrestingdemonstrators who may have been simply exercising their right to free speechand freedom of assembly.”
UWM: Protesters AssaultedPolice
UWM spokesman Tom Luljak explained the eventsthis way:
“We had a peaceful protest over at the unionand it was peaceful for a period of time at Chapman Hall,” Luljak told the Shepherd immediately after the protest.“The problems began when some members of the group became violent and beganassaulting our police officers. At one point four of our officers were forcedagainst a door and pushed down to or toward the ground as a result of therefusal by some of the individuals to obey the command not to enter thebuilding.”
Luljak admitted that the police used pepperspray to hold back the crowd.
“At one point the officers were forced againstthe building and were in their mind in serious danger of being injured,” Luljaksaid. “Some pepper spray was administered over the heads of the crowd. Itwasn’t sprayed directly into anyone’s face. It was sprayed above the crowd inan attempt to get the group to back off so the officers could resume theirstance and regain control of the entranceway.”
Officials declared the protest an “unlawfulassembly” at some point.
Luljak said one member of the protest wasallowed in to Chapman Hall to deliver petitions, but that Chancellor CarlosSantiago was “away on business.”
As a result of the confrontation, 16individuals were taken into custody, but one personthe president of thestudent governmentwas released.
Students: We Weren’t Outof Control
But video footage and testimony from theprotesters offers a different version of events.
Kas Schwerdtfeger, a member of MilwaukeeStudents for a Democratic Society (SDS), which helped to organize the protest,said not to believe the hype about the snowballs. Very few were thrown.
“I know that the administration is coming outwith this message that the students were out of control, but we weren’t,”Schwerdtfeger said.
Mike Gold, a UWM student, said he spotted ChancellorSantiago entering Chapman Hall, contrary to Luljak’s version.
%u2028“We were going to the chancellor to ask thathe take a pay cut before cutting the salaries of all of the workers underneathhim,” Gold said. “We showed up unarmed, with our signs, and they used brutalpolice repression instead of having him come out to talk to us.” %u2028%u2028
Video footage posted on YouTube and on SDS’sWeb site (sds-mke.blogspot.com) shows protesters chanting, holding signs, andwalking toward Chapman Hall, where a handful of officers were standing in frontof the door.
At some point, the scene grew more chaotic aspepper spray was released over the heads of the protesters. It appears that afew snowballs were thrown. As of this writing, no video clearly shows officersbeing pushed to the ground, as Luljak said in his account, or of punches beingthrown or officers being kicked.
Later, protesters were taken into custody(either in plastic restraints or metal handcuffs) as they milled around thesite of the protest. Two are seen lying facedown in snow, officers straddlingthem, as they are cuffed. A member of the student press was arrested on cameraas well, as was another man who was simply standing in the area.
SDS has condemned the repression of thepeaceful protest, and is demanding that the police drop all charges against theMilwaukee 16,as the detained individuals have been dubbed (15 were arrested and charged). Itis requesting that Chancellor Santiago meet with the coalition to discuss theeconomic crisis facing the university, that all charges be dropped against the15 students, and that UWM Police Chief Michael Marzion apologize for usingexcessive force in breaking up the protest.
