Palestinian-American professor detained in campus protest alleges racial bias

WASHINGTON (AA) – A Palestinian-American professor who was injured while being held to the ground by police officers during his arrest at a student-led Free Palestine Movement campus protest says action against him was racially motivated.

“There were three faculty that were detained, and violently a little bit, and three of us were people of color,” Samer Alatout, an associate professor of community and environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose image of violent arrest went viral, told the media in a video interview.

“So it’s a legitimate question to ask. Does that mean there is purposeful violence enacted on people of color?” he said.

Alatout said he was trying to hold his position between the police and the students.

“My role has always been to mediate between the students and the administration…I’m not sure why the targeting,” he said.

“In the last five months, I have been probably one of the really instrumental voices on campus for de-escalation and worked with the university administration to make sure that students have the right to speak while at the same time be respectful and not to get the problems that are happening on other campuses,” he added.

For Alatout, it was a “big surprise” for him and other people that the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is known for its long history of student protests during the civil rights movement, deployed the police on campus.

He noted that after the violence on campus, the university started negotiations with students from the encampment, listening to their demands, including divestment with Israel.

“Let’s hope that the administration will heed the demands of the students and everything will go back to normal,” he added.

Nearly 2,500 people, including students, have been arrested by US authorities during the Free Palestine Movement demonstrations, with protesters demanding universities divest from Israel which has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians in Gaza since last October.

Nationwide demonstrations gained momentum last month after Columbia University asked the New York Police Department to forcibly evict a group of students who had set up a peace camp on a campus lawn. Over 100 people were arrested, but the protesters quickly adapted and formed another sit-in before they were forcibly removed last Tuesday night by police from that site, as well as a building they occupied.

Students in other countries including Canada, Australia, France, and Egypt have also organized demonstrations at universities in solidarity with Palestine.