Yolanda Wang, Contributing Photographer

On Friday, around 200 protesters blocked the intersection of College and Grove Streets and marched through streets surrounding Yale’s campus to protest Israel’s escalating assault in Lebanon.

At 5 p.m., protesters gathered in front of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall as protest organizers read speeches condemning the civilian deaths and displacements caused by Israel’s military strikes targeting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Shortly after, when the crowd had swelled to about 200, protesters blocked the intersection of College and Grove Streets for around 20 minutes, standing in a large circle. Protesters ultimately cleared out of the intersection under the threat of arrest by New Haven Police officers. They then marched along College, Chapel, High and Elm streets before gathering at the Women’s Table in front of Sterling Memorial Library and dispersing around 6:15 p.m.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged low-intensity rocket strikes since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7.  Israel has killed at least 1,030 people in Lebanon since an escalation this past week, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry as of Saturday. At least 30 Israelis were killed in recent Hezbollah attacks, according to a U.S. congressional research report as of Sept. 20. 

Throughout the rally, protesters chanted slogans such as “from Gaza to Beirut, all our martyrs we salute,” “Zionism is a crime, from Lebanon to Palestine” and “raise your hand, make a fist, Palestinians will resist… Lebanese will resist.”

“We had marshals and police liaisons prepared, and we were only prepared to take the intersection in the case that there were enough people there for it to be safe,” a protester told the News on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “It was not intended to be an extremely disruptive action. It was planned for a specific amount of time.”

During the protesters’ occupation of the College and Grove Street intersection, roughly 30 officers from the New Haven Police Department redirected traffic and attempted to convince protesters to leave the road. 

“We have about 30 cops out here,” NHPD Chief Karl Jacobsen told a protester acting as a liaison with police. “We were very courteous last time, we gave you four hours. We’re not doing that this time.”

Pro-Palestine protesters blocked the same intersection for nine hours on April 22, after 48 protesters were arrested for trespassing on Beinecke Plaza during the first divestment encampment in April. 

At around 5:30 p.m., an NHPD officer told the police liaison that police would give protesters 10 more minutes to clear out from the intersection before making an arrest announcement. 

Shortly after the officer’s statement and before any arrest announcements occurred, a protest organizer asked protesters to link arms before directing them to march south along College Street. The intersection was fully cleared around 5:40 p.m.

Throughout protesters’ occupation of the intersection and marching through streets around Yale’s campus, several motorists expressed strong disapproval for the blockage of traffic, with one pushing and driving through the circle. No protesters were harmed in the altercation. 

According to the anonymous protester, Assistant Vice President for University Life Pilar Montalvo emailed members of Yalies4Palestine in the days leading up to the protest requesting that the student group submit permission forms to use Cross Campus, the Women’s Table and Beinecke Plaza as event spaces. However, the protester claimed that the rally was not organized by Yalies4Palestine.

“This rally was organized by a large collective of both New Haven and Yale organizations,” the protesters told the News. “A bunch of groups came together and planned an emergency rally.”

The protester also told the News that Montalvo had told Yalies4Palestine in an email that the group may be placed in a “difficult situation” due to the confusion about who was planning the protest. 

“Staff in the Office of the Secretary regularly reach out to University groups that may be planning an event on Cross Campus or other open spaces but have not yet filled out the registration form,” a University spokesperson wrote in an email to the News. “Staff also consistently offer support to groups.”

Neither Montalvo nor the University spokesperson clarified what Montalvo meant by “difficult situation.”

According to Senior Associate Dean of Yale College Burgwell Howard, University administrators sometimes become aware of events such as protests from social media posts by students.

“Sometimes we happen to see posts on social media, and we’ll send [Free Expression] Facilitators to events that we know might be more controversial,” Howard told the News. 

Howard also pointed to the high traffic at the intersection and the dates of Family Weekend, which took place from Friday, Sept. 27, through Sunday, Sept. 29, as reasons for administrators to be concerned.

On Thursday, an Instagram post announcing the protest was cross-posted by Yalies4Palestine, Yale Palestine Actions, Yale Graduate Students for Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace – New Haven.

Two Free Expression Facilitators were present throughout the protest. Both facilitators and the University spokesperson declined to provide the facilitators’ names.

“Free Expression Facilitators (FEFs) wear a bright yellow badge so that they can be easily identified when supporting events or gatherings,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the News. “FEFs provide their names to members of the university community involved in an event or gathering.”

The Yale Police Department was founded in 1894.

Josie Reich and Ariela Lopez contributed reporting.