Pro-Palestinian protests block traffic outside Washington University

ST. LOUIS — About 200 pro-Palestinian activists gathered Friday evening just outside the east end of Washington University, their first return to campus after arrests last weekend, and hours after the university finished erecting hundreds of feet of fencing separating the campus from St. Louis.

Over more than three hours, they marched down Skinker Boulevard chanting pro-Palestinian slogans, blocking several intersections during rush hour. Around 7:30 p.m., they began walking down the entrance ramp to eastbound Interstate 64, then looped across some grass to an exit ramp.

At one point, a driver got out of his vehicle at Forest Park Parkway as protesters blocked Skinker, and began shouting and fighting with a protester. After other protesters separated them, the man returned to his car and drove through the intersection without hitting anyone as police watched.

Protesters then walked south along both sides of Skinker and blocked three other intersections — at Lindell Boulevard, Rosebury Avenue and Clayton Road, with St. Louis police stopping traffic. 

Jacobi Presser pushed her two-year-old daughter Everly in a stroller. “I keep seeing videos of children dying that look exactly like mine,” she said of the war in Gaza. “I just want it to end.” 

Friday’s protest followed one last Saturday in which hundreds marched on campus and set up tents. That same night, police moved in, removing the protesters and arresting more than 100, including at least 23 Washington U. students and four university employees.

Several claimed they were injured by police. Over the week, students, professors and alumni penned at least four letters, representing thousands of people, against police intervention and the university’s reaction.

On Thursday and Friday, the university installed at least 1,500 feet of fencing on Forest Park, Skinker and Forsyth Boulevard.

The fencing was for upcoming “commencement-related activities,” university spokeswoman Julie Hail Flory said. University-wide ceremonies are set for May 13.

School leaders warned against unruly activity hours before Friday’s protest, outlining in a message what was considered “acceptable and unacceptable behavior.”

Protesters didn’t attempt to enter the campus Friday and there were no arrests.

The protest was sponsored by American Muslims for Palestine and several other groups, according to a flyer promoting it. 

Among those taking part were three members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen — board president Megan Green, Alisha Sonnier and Rasheen Aldridge.

An email to the school’s community Thursday night said the fences were erected to keep the area clear and “ensure pedestrian safety” as crews set up a stage and other structures for the commencement festival.

But the fencing borders an area where last week’s protesters attempted to set up an encampment before police began the arrests.

Meanwhile, the dean of WashU’s McKelvey School of Engineering just west of Skinker sent an email encouraging and permitting employees to end work at 4 p.m. Friday, an hour before the scheduled start of the protest.

The dean, Aaron Bobick, said in the email that he was encouraging faculty to leave early “out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of reducing any possible confrontations” should the protest spill over to the campus.

He said in the email that he was asking the faculty to encourage students to leave any labs by 4 p.m. as well.

Flory, the university spokeswoman, said it was up to individual departments to decide if they want to leave early to avoid any potential disruption of regularly scheduled activities. “We are not making any changes at the university level,” she said in an email.

A protest at St. Louis University on Wednesday did not escalate to a clash between demonstrators and police.

Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said earlier in the day that city police would be on hand at Friday’s protest but that demonstrations on campus would be under the jurisdiction of the university police.

A spokesman for Jones said that policy applies even to the part of the campus inside the St. Louis city limits. The university straddles the border between the city and an unincorporated area of St. Louis County. In addition, part of the campus is in Clayton.