Police have stormed the plaza of Yale University, where hundreds of defiant pro-Palestinian students have been camping for the past few nights.
Connecticut police arrived at Beinecke Plaza Monday morning to try to rouse students from their tents after the protest escalated into violence over the weekend.
It comes as a Jewish Yale student accused a pro-Gaza protester, who allegedly stabbed her in the eye with a Palestinian flag, of using a keffiyeh to hide his identity.
Sahar Tartak, a sophomore and editor of the Yale Free Press, said the attacker hid his face with the monochrome scarf — a symbol of Palestinian patriotism.
“He had anonymity because of the keffiyeh, and organizers encourage anonymity at these events because it creates immunity so students can physically attack people like me and then get away with it,” she said Fox news.
Police stormed Yale University Square, where hundreds of rioting pro-Palestinian students have been camping for the past few nights
Sahar Tartak, a sophomore and editor-in-chief of the Yale Free Press, recalled the disturbing events that led to the alleged attack on Beinecke Plaza on campus on Saturday evening.
Tartak said about 500 students attended the demonstration Saturday evening in what they called “Gaza Plaza,” calling for the “complete liberation” of Palestine.
About 100 stayed overnight in tents, and about 30 have been detained by police so far.
Officers were seen walking between tents on Monday morning, warning students that they had “a few minutes to clear the area” or they could be arrested.
But the officials were met with chants of “we will not be moved” as students formed a circle and appeared to block surrounding roads.
Footage from the scene showed about 30 protesters being taken away in a police van as the remaining demonstrators cheered and applauded. The police vehicle bounced as it sped away from the force of students jumping around inside.
Tartak said she was attacked on Saturday evening when students created a “human blockade” around her while chanting “anti-Jewish” slogans as she entered their demonstration.
The Ivy League student, who wears conservative clothing and a Star of David necklace, said she competed with another “visibly Jewish” student in Hasidic garb, making them targets.
“When they saw me, they noticed that I was filming and that I was being blocked by their fellow ideologues,” Tartak told Fox News.
Tartak provided a photo of her accused attacker and added that his keffiyeh – a monochrome patterned scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian identity – had concealed his identity
Sahar Tartak, a sophomore at Yale University, accused another student of stabbing her in the eye with a Palestinian flag during Saturday night’s protests
The sophomore claimed in subsequent posts that other students formed a “human block” around her
“So in addition to the really aggressive human blockade, they also started harassing, mocking and taunting me. They waved their hands and middle fingers in my camera and my face and shouted at me.
“And finally, one of the students whose face was covered with a keffiyeh grabbed a Palestinian flag he was holding, waved it in my face, and then hit my left eye.
‘I immediately shouted ‘he stabbed me in the eye’ and ran after him. And then this human blockade kept blocking me, so I couldn’t find the man who attacked me because they wanted to protect him.
“He had anonymity because of the keffiyeh, and organizers encourage anonymity at these events because it creates immunity so students can physically attack people like me and then get away with it.”
Tartak said protest organizers called an ambulance for her after she explained what happened, and an EMT on scene advised her to go to the hospital. She said she didn’t get home until around 2:30 am.
She said the protest involved about 500 students and about 100 of them camped overnight in the university’s main square.
She claimed she was singled out because she wore clothing associated with the Hasidic Jewish sect
Tartak further claimed that protesters stepped in front of her to prevent her from confronting her attacker
Tartak also described the alleged attack on X, formerly Twitter, alongside a photo of the alleged attacker in the keffiyeh.
The second year previously told the New York Post that she “tried to report the assault to campus police, but they told her there was nothing they could do.” She was discharged from the hospital without reporting the incident to the police.
A series of social media posts documented Tartak’s clashes with pro-Palestinian protesters. She included several videos of fellow students linking their arms and walking in a circle around her, singing.
Tartak described them as a “human block” and accused them of pushing her against a wall.
“One of many videos of a human blockade preventing me from moving during last night’s violent protest,” she captioned one clip.
‘Here I am standing between the demonstrators and the wall. Organizers told protesters to get closer to the wall. “Come closer,” she beckoned, as they waved the crowd in my direction.”
In the video, another student urges the protesters to move back, telling Tartak that they are trying to create a path for her to leave.
However, she accuses the organizers of ordering the other students to “attack (her).”
Tartak further claimed that the protesters blocked her to prevent her from “running after my attacker.”
“Instead of helping me find him quickly, an organizer told me, ‘I want you to think about what you really want to get out of this,’” she wrote.
Since Friday, students have been protesting at Yale’s Beinecke Plaza. The demonstrations came in response to an attempt to remove an encampment from Columbia University grounds
In another video, the second year filmed her confrontation with the said organizer.
“I would like to remove from the meeting the person who hit me in the eye with the flag,” she says frantically as she surveys the other student, who is wearing a red keffiyeh around her neck.
“We all want this meeting to be peaceful and that no one gets hurt,” the student responds. “I need to ask you a few more questions.”
Tartak then accuses the woman of ‘hesitating’ and claims she feels ‘uncomfortable’.
Yale students have been setting up tents in Beinecke Plaza since Friday. The demonstrations were in direct response to efforts to remove a similar campsite at Columbia University.
No arrests have been made so far, unlike in Columbia, where a police spokesperson confirmed that more than a hundred protesters had been taken into custody.
Most of those arrested were charged with resisting arrest and obstructing government administration.
Yale’s student body has been protesting for months to pressure the university to divest its endowments from arms manufacturers amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
These efforts have only increased in recent weeks, amid the war in Gaza, which has left more than 30,000 Palestinian civilians dead.
Yale’s student body has been protesting for months to pressure the university to divest its endowment from arms manufacturers in the Middle East.
Speaking to the Jerusalem PostTartak said she urged police to disband the encampment but was told they needed permission to do so.
“These students are violating every policy on the books; they should have been disbanded immediately,” she told the publication.
“These students have taken over the campus, and it’s an intimidation tactic.”
On Sunday, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates issued a statement.
“While every American has the right to peaceful protection, calls for violence and physical intimidation against Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly anti-Semitic, unconscionable, and dangerous—they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the world.” United States. America,” he said.
“And repeating the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms.”
DailyMail.com has contacted the Connecticut State Police and New Haven Police for comment.
