Moment police move in and break-up anti-Israel encampment at Virginia Tech

This is the moment a protester in an anti-Israel protest encampment was carried away by police as they arrested dozens of students on campus at Virginia Tech.

Protesters had defied police orders to disperse from their camp at the university's Graduate Life Centre lawn on Sunday night as 'the situation had the increasing potential to become unsafe', according to school officials.

The Virginia Tech protests were identical to the encampments at universities such as Columbia and MIT as students oppose the continued bombing in Gaza and, in some cases, their schools' continued financial ties to Israel.

A statement from Virginia Tech read: 'Those who gathered were advised by university officials to remove their possessions and to disperse voluntarily; those who failed to comply were then approached by Virginia Tech Police and were again asked to leave and advised that anyone who failed to comply would be charged with trespassing, in accordance with Virginia law.

'At approximately 10:15 p.m., police approached protesters to ask them to disperse within five minutes. Those who remained were subject to arrest.'

A protester at Virginia Tech was seen being carried away as police arrested dozens of students who had occupied a lawn outside the Graduate Life Centre

Protesters had defied police requests to disperse from the encampment on Sunday night as 'the situation had the increasing potential to become unsafe', according to the school

The protest began Friday morning, in the wake of similar encampments across the country

As the situation unfolded, Virginia Tech continued to warn members of their community to avoid the area including with an update at 3.32am Monday which said the situation had 'stabilized' but police presence remained.

In occupying the lawn on Friday morning, protesters were supposedly in violation of University Policy 5000 - University Facilities Usage and Events. 

The statement added: 'Virginia Tech values free speech and the protestors' right to be heard, but only if the rights of others and public safety can be assured.' 

Virginia Tech claimed that dialogue between university and police officials and protest organizers had kept a 'safe and peaceful environment through much of the weekend'.

However, as the protest continued into Sunday, taking 'further steps to occupy the lawn of the Graduate Life Center and outdoor spaces next to Squires Student Center' risk of the encampment becoming unsafe grew. 

Protesting students had made clear their demands for Virginia Tech to divest from Israel and provide endowment transparency.

They also wanted the school to issue an official statement condemning Israel's intervention in Palestine, to define anti-Palestinian racism and acknowledge the suppression of Palestinian and allied students on campus.

Addressing protests across the country, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine told NBC Sunday: 'People have a right to protest and make their views known. And almost, you know, overwhelming percentages of people do that peacefully, but there are those who intimidate or harass others.'

He added that he did not see deploying the National Guard as an appropriate solution to the protests.

Pictured: The Graduate Life Centre outside which students erected tents, seen in 2019

Governor Glenn Youngkin (seen April 18) of Virginia said he had been working with university and police officials to ensure any protests are peaceful. Within 12 hours, protesters at Virginia Tech were being arrested

Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement: 'Freedom of expression and peacefully demonstrating is at the heart of our First Amendment, and we must protect it, BUT that does not go to intimidating Jewish students and preventing them from attending class and using annihilation speech to express deeply antisemitic views.

'Therefore, I have been working with our Attorney General Jason Miyares, our university presidents, and law enforcement at the state, local, and campus levels to make sure that if there are protests, they are peaceful. 

'We're not gonna have encampments and tents put up. And yes, we will protect the ability to peacefully express yourself but we're not gonna have the kind of hate speech and intimidation we are seeing across the country in Virginia.'

Within 12 hours of Gov. Youngkin's statement, police had arrested a number of pupils at Virginia Tech.