CNN host Erin Burnett pressed pro-Palestine student Achinthya Sivalingam on why the protestors felt they had to “defy” the guidelines the school established for demonstrating.
Sivalingam appeared Monday on “Erin Burnett OutFront” to discuss her recent arrest while protesting at Princeton University. Princeton released policies for protests such as not “occupying or blocking access to buildings,” prior to Sivalingam’s arrest, Burton said. (RELATED: Chaotic Scene Unfolds Between Authorities, Pro-Palestine Protesters)
Burnett asked the Princeton student why her and fellow protesters find it necessary to “defy” the rules “as opposed to protesting in another way.”
“I think what‘s important to remember in this context is that we were protesting peacefully,” Sivalingam said. “We were not causing harm to anyone. We were out there setting up tents so that we could bring light to the university‘s investments in a genocide. There‘s a massive violent campaign happening against the Gazans. Just last week, there was a large mass grave that was discovered outside of a hospital where people admitted —”
“Al Shifa,” Burnett stated.
“Outside Al Shifa where people who are admitted were killed and then thrown into this mass grave,” Sivalingam responded. “We were out there protesting this deep violence by peaceful measures and the university decided to enact violence on me personally by arresting me and having people take down their tents. I don‘t necessarily understand the double standard there.”
“So, but when they say ‘Okay, you could have done this another way.’ Do you feel that nobody would be paying attention unless you did it this way, unless you defied the rules?” Burnett pushed back.
“I don‘t want to say that we defied the rules,” Sivalingam said. “That came out a day before this happened, there were encampments that were happening across the country. I think it was important for us to show solidarity with the students of Columbia University who are being brutalized. The students from University of Texas [at] Austin who were clearly being brutalized and having pepper spray against them. And, yeah, it‘s just important to clarify what our universities are doing together because this is a national issue. This is an issue across the United States,” Sivalingam stated.”
Last Thursday, an estimated 100 students were arrested while protesting in the university’s McCosh Courtyard, according to the Daily Princetonian. Princeton Public Safety (PSAFE) began to issue warnings to students after they started to set up tents, which resulted in the first wave of arrests, the outlet reported.
A day before the protest at Princeton, Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun sent out an email to undergraduate students in the morning giving students a clear outline for the school’s safety measures while demonstrating and stating that “[a]ny individual involved in an encampment, occupation, or other unlawful disruptive conduct who refuses to stop after a warning will be arrested and immediately barred from campus.”
“In addition to disrupting University operations, some types of protest actions (including occupying or blocking access to buildings, establishing outdoor encampments, and sleeping in any campus outdoor space) are inherently unsafe for both those involved and for bystanders, and they increase the potential for escalation and confrontation,” Calhoun stated. “They are also inconsistent with the University’s mission and its legal obligation to provide a safe environment for all students and employees.”
