The protests at the Emory University quad Saturday had been peaceful for several hours, from 4 p.m. until about 10:30 p.m. Then someone, or several people, began to spray paint graffiti on at least one Emory University building on the quad, where graduation is scheduled for May 13. Emory police then came in and broke up the crowd.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
About 45 minutes earlier, campus employees, who appeared to be facilities personnel and not police, arrived at the quad to remove signs that protesters had hung on the temporary graduation scaffolding that already had been put in place for graduation ceremonies. According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution photographer who was at the scene, the workers made clear that they did not intend to confiscate the signs, only remove them. That’s when someone ran toward the building and ran off into the darkness with a ladder that workers had brought with them to remove the signs. Emory personnel did not try to apprehend the ladder thief and instead left without a confrontation with the protesters.
But the graffiti painting on the outside building walls, some of which are marble, did bring out the Emory police.
