An interaction between a Yale Police officer and protestors on the crosswalk of College and Elm Street Friday afternoon has activists confused, The Yale Politic reported.
According to members of the New Haven social justice group La Unidad Latina en Acción — who were protesting the name of Calhoun College while the signal permitted crossing — a YPD officer approached them holding what they said appeared to be a body camera and told them several times, “This is your first warning.”
Since students protests last year, ULA has called for the removal of the controversial residential college name every Friday. But Friday, as the protestors carried their #ChangeTheName banner off the crosswalk, a police officer got out of his parked vehicle, approached the protestors and issued a warning without giving further explanation.
One protestor told the officer that the protestors were not obstructing traffic or disobeying the crosswalk signal. The officer returned to his vehicle and drove away, giving a final warning out his window.
ULA organizer Megan Fountain ’07 told The Yale Politic she has spoken with City Hall officials several times about the legality of protesting during crosswalk signals, and had no reason to believe ULA was breaking the law. Nonetheless, Friday’s encounter with the YPD officer was less friendly and more ominous and cryptic than any previous interaction ULA has had with police, another ULA organizer said.