At UVA, One Pro-Palestinian Protest Disperses, a Second Persists
EXCERPT
While the Grounds remained orderly yesterday, there were some darker undercurrents.
WINA radio talk show host Rob Schilling forwarded this video he had posted on his blog, in which a protester tried to stop someone filming the "encampment" as he walked through. Said the protester: "Excuse me, nobody gave you permission to do it. You can't be filming people when you're walking through, man."
It is interesting that a protester wearing a mask for purposes of concealment in violation of state law is asserting a right, which does not exist, to halt someone else from lawfully taking video footage. Both the mask wearing and the ban against photo taking have been recurring features of leftist and pro-Palestinian rallies all along. (UVA's position is that the local Commonwealth’s Attorney has said he would not support criminal charges against individuals wearing face coverings who were engaged in assembly and expression protected by the First Amendment and not otherwise engaged in criminal or disruptive conduct.)
Another ominous sign was a post appearing yesterday on the Instagram account of "uvaencampmentforgaza"
Come out to UVA chapel now
We need members urgently
Help us defend the camp!
Given the lack of any aggressive moves by University police, it's not clear what the protesters believed needing defending.
The separate events — one a conventional rally on the Lawn, the other a would-be "encampment" by the Chapel — apparently reflect differences within the pro-Palestinian movement at UVA. Vague tit-for-tat comments on social media suggest a disagreement over tactics.
The Lawn rally was sponsored by two UVA student organizations. Dissenters and UVA Apartheid Divest promoted the Lawn protest to cap a five-day series of events. This is the group that dispersed yesterday without incident.
UVA Encampment for Gaza is a different organization. Its 1,588 followers appear to consist of a mix of grad students and adults from the Charlottesville community. Many followers are artists — painters, musicians, filmmakers, digital works, and the like. Their profiles come out of central casting for Charlottesville socialist counter-culture.
