‘I was lying on the ground beside a wall of cops’: student photographers’ best images of the campus protests | US campus protests
Aprotests in support of Palestine they clean university campuses in the US, student journalists from New York to Texas have documented the reality of the camps. They have handled the case by capturing the quiet moments, the festive elements, the tense scenes and the brutal police arrests.
We asked nine photographers—who have covered the demonstrations at Columbia, Berkeley, the University of Texas and beyond—to tell the stories behind their most impactful photos.
Lily Speredelozzi | George Washington University
When part of the encampment at George Washington University was barricaded off, protesters outside wrote quotes such as “GW is complicit in genocide”, “shame on you GW” or “people power”. Protesters later tore down the barriers. I was excited to take this photo. I wanted to include context: the Palestinian flag, the students, the chalk. I like the top shot and the shadows. The protest against the GWU camp was peaceful, with GW police and DC police present but no activity.
Christian Harsa | The Lantern, The Ohio State University
This photo was taken on the South Oval, across College Road from the Ohio Union. I wanted to film how the police make an arrest so that people can see what happens on the ground. The adrenaline was pumping because I was so close to where the police and the column of protesters met. The threat of being arrested was always there. In this photo, a student is arrested after being tackled to the ground and pulled from the line of protesters. I love the action captured by this shot. I can’t help but put myself in her shoes and think about the anger and fear she must have felt.
Kris Dev | Washington Square News, New York University
This was done on the evening of April 25, just before more than 100 students formed a column outside Gould Plaza to protest the 120 arrests of protesters, including students and faculty, at the site two days earlier. I saw police aggressively pounce on protesters in riot gear and tie them up with zip ties; they even sprayed one of our photographers. After the arrests, the police built a wall with metal boards and plastic barriers. Some wrote messages and attached fliers urging students to go to Columbia University to support the camp there. The person looking at the board in the image is a campus safety officer. Campus security officers guarded the protests 24 hours a day this past week and, in my experience, treated the demonstrations with respect and protected the protesters from those outside. I originally planned to take a picture of the wooden board and the words “WALL OF SHAME” written on it. As I was taking the photo, a campus safety officer began looking at the message. I thought the juxtaposition between him and the message was very strong. I felt a little sorry for the police officer who looked slightly upset in the shot. I have seen many campus safety officers who seem conflicted. I was also reminded of the violation of student trust that occurs on campus.
Anita Liu | The Daily Californian, University of California, Berkeley
This photo was taken from the balcony of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union Building, which is directly across from the camp. It is common place to take protest photos to show a wider perspective. There were about 150 tents and no police activity at the time. The steps are named after a leader of the free speech movement, making the camp an important site for political activism.
When I took this photo, I knew I was documenting an important moment in campus history. I couldn’t help but think of the parallels between the Free Palestine camp and the apartheid demonstrations in South Africa in the 1980s.
Charlotte Keane | The Daily Texan, University of Texas, Austin
As the protests and police interactions became more heated, many students began to flee.
Another photographer and I ran into that building after the police started using force to disperse the crowd. We knew we had to do more than hide, so we started looking for classrooms with windows. We heard the commotion coming from the downstairs exits. And then we saw the scene.
I was scared. I almost didn’t get it. Those of us in the building weren’t sure if the police would force their way in. But I stopped for a second and knew I had to capture what I was seeing.
I love the symmetry. I think there’s something nice to look at in the contrast of the light and the repeating squares from the window – almost like there’s a sense of calm before the storm. To me, the silence reads like anticipation.
Marco Postigo Storell | Columbia University
Various groups within the Gaza Solidarity Camp at Columbia University had a dance presentation at the camp during a warm afternoon. I decided to lay down on the grassy ground in the center of the circle and bring their legs to the foreground while the rest of the people moved in the background. It was a warm day with good lighting.
I love how everything in the frame is in the right place at the right time, and the three-dimensionality the photo has makes it better. Like a complete puzzle. I got a lot of dirt on my clothes taking this picture, but it was worth it.
Manu Sirivelu | The Daily Texan, University of Texas in Austin
In this photo, University of Texas Police (UTPD) officers pin a protester to the concrete sidewalk and tie him up with zip ties. Law enforcement moved in at intervals and surrounded the protesters 360 degrees. Crowds and nearby media were often unable to see the full extent of the force used and how protesters were restrained. I wanted to show the feelings of imprisonment and suffocation that the students felt, so I tried to depict the officers’ legs as bars that already surrounded the student.
I was next to the student in this photo when the arrest was made and a UTPD officer pushed me down as he tried to make room. I was lying on the ground with a wall of cops between me and the student when I sat down to take this photo, no more than five feet away from her.
I was shocked to be pushed to the ground when I met her gaze and realized we were close enough to make eye contact. I felt the need to make a photo that encapsulated her feelings and mine.
This shows how unnecessary the force used in these arrests was. Our cameras have the responsibility of recording the events – allowing viewers to see and most importantly put themselves in our perspective with the space of empathy that a photo like this provides.
Jason Alpert-Wisnia | Washington Square News, New York University
In this photo, students eat donated and purchased food. They had provisions gathered in the center of their space and the disciples sat by their tents there to eat. I wanted to show the silence between moments of action that are everywhere. The shooting from above adds scale to the campus protests. I took this from the third floor of NYU’s Paulson Center, looking down on the camp. As a student, I can enter buildings and work from non-student angles, so I had the advantage of height.
Top image:
Lorraine Willett | The Daily Texan, University of Texas, Austin
I wanted to tell stories about arrested students. When I took this photo, I was standing right in front of the state troopers who had surrounded the van loading the arrested people. I was in front of a large crowd of people protesting and watching. After going through my experience, I really felt so affected to see the faces of people my age being taken to prison. In this shot, I like the framing of arrested protesters between the helmets of the state troopers.
