"Given these cases of violent crack-downs on protestors at both the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California, the vocabulary you’ve used to describe interactions between students and police is inappropriate, inaccurate, and merits prompt correction."
April 25, 2024
To the Editors at CTV News,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express a concern regarding a recent article picked up by the Associated Press “Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grow,” published on April 24 on CTV News.
While the Associated Press initially wrote and published this article, its original title has since been edited on their website. The CTV News title, however, remains. To describe a violent crack-down by state troopers and police on anti-war demonstrators as police “tangling” with students is offensive and completely inaccurate. When police officers are holding batons, mounted on horses, wearing helmets, and carrying shields, is it reasonable and fair to say they are “tangled” with protesters?
There are hundreds of horrifying incidents circulating that make this kind of vocabulary entirely inappropriate. In one case at the University of Texas Gaza encampment, a photojournalist is thrown to the ground and arrested by police who are sporting riot shields. In another, a man wearing a keffiyeh falls into a bush as he’s tackled by security and police officers. This video shows the moment student Ammer Qaddumi is arrested with unnecessary force.
The instances of brutal police force extend to the encampment at the University of Southern California, too. A widely circulated video shows a police officer violently grabbing and pushing a protestor at the USC campus. One video shows a protestor being tackled by several police officers, pinning him against a tree and forcefully constraining his movement. Another video shows police officers ripping the students’ encampment tents out of the ground and pushing/shoving protestors to the ground.
Given these cases of violent crack-downs on protestors at both the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California, the vocabulary you’ve used to describe interactions between students and police is inappropriate, inaccurate, and merits prompt correction.
Sincerely,
Rose Mardikian,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East