A peaceful week-long protest at UVA ends in chaos

Plus, drug bust celebrated by police, local media, a complete bust. And the Daily Progress sues UVA

It was students with umbrellas versus Virginia State P{olice in riot gear Saturday afternoon. Photo credit: Cav Daily

A "liberation zone" encampment on the Lawn at UVA to protest Israel's siege of the Palestinian territory of Gaza and call for "an end to our institutions’ complicity in genocide" appeared to be diminishing, reduced from about 80 people earlier in the week to a few dozen on a rainy Saturday morning. Indeed, there was hope the students would be allowed to protest, despite breaking a few policy rules regarding camping out on the Lawn, but later that afternoon Albemarle County and Charlottesville police, University of Virginia Police, and Virginia State Police in riot gear, outnumbering the protesters, began moblizing on grounds.

After UVA president Jim Ryan deployed riot police to physically remove the encampment and drive back spectators and members of the press into the street in front of the Rotunda, UVA communications were also deployed to place the blame on the prote…