BREAKING: The Encampment at Virginia Tech has been told that they will be arrested if they don’t disperse. They are pleading with the administration to not arrest anyone because children are present.
“Do our children scare you?” pic.twitter.com/eAiZkWsn3T
— Stu (@thestustustudio) April 28, 2024
Stu Smith, producer of StuStuStudios, captured this video yesterday from the Virginia Tech encampment. University police were threatening to shut down the event for violating various university rules and protocols, and the pro-Palestinian demonstrators trotted out this precocious young militant to lead the mindless chanting.
“I’m not leaving,” sing-sang the tyke into a loudspeaker.
“We’re not leaving!” responded the crowd.
Undeterred by the pint-sized protester, Virginia Tech police shut down the event anyway, arresting 82 in the process, according to numbers released by the university. Fifty-three were students, according to the statement. It’s not clear if any were faculty. But it is a reasonable supposition that the vast majority of the 29 others were outside agitators.
Which raises warning flags for Virginia Commonwealth University, where protesters have set up a “liberation zone” and issued demands to the administration, and the University of Virginia, where pro-Palestinians have announced their intention to set up a liberation zone Wednesday, the day before exams. President Rao and President Ryan: how many outside agitators are heading for your campus?
UVA lefties used the term “liberation zone” in their rhetoric when announcing their planned event. It was the first time I’d seen the phrase used in the context of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Now VCU militants are using it to describe the grassy patch outside the James Branch Cabell Library where they’ve set up a barrier of tents and live bodies. The common vocabulary is not a coincidence.
Where else do we see the phrase? At the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Purdue University, and the epicenter of the fever, Columbia University. Liberation zones all. That’s what I found after about two minutes of googling.
Perhaps “liberation zone” is one of those memes that is so irresistible that it spreads virally through social media. Or perhaps it’s part of a coordinated effort.
There is evidence that progressive foundations and others with deep pockets are paying the salaries of some professional protesters, whose job is to float from one demonstration to the next. It would be an interesting exercise for some enterprising news outfit in Blacksburg to look up the arrest records of the VT demonstrators and ascertain their domiciles. How many are townies? How many are from outside Montgomery? How many are from outside Virginia? If any Bacon’s Rebellion reader has the means to dig up that information, please share it with me.
One reader tells me that the Montgomery County commonwealth’s attorney is fairly conservative, so there is a decent chance that he might decide to prosecute some of the protesters. Meanwhile, it would be interesting to know how many were released after their arrest, with or without bail. (Montgomery County, Va., has not yet abolished bail bonds.)
Meanwhile, there is a bigger story here, according to my source. While I praised Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands in a previous post for not wavering or equivocating in the face of the challenge to public order, the arrests went less than smoothly. It appears that VT police had not prepared for the necessity of arresting so many people, and there were major logistical challenges holding all of the arrestees and transporting them to the magistrate’s office in Christiansburg for processing. That’s a very anodyne way of describing what supposedly happened. I have not independently confirmed this, however. What remains of the media in Western Virginia should jump on this story. If what I heard is close to true, reporters will have days’ worth of news fodder.
Meanwhile, there are lessons for others. Warning, UVA and VCU, you could well have 20+ pro-Palestinian radicals — and that’s just the ones who were arrested, not including those who escaped the clutches of VT’s campus cops — making bail and heading to a liberation zone near you. These people aren’t interested in civil dialogue. They aren’t interested in compromise. These people couldn’t care less if they trash the reputation of your institution. Be prepared.
