Lily Belle Poling, Staff Photographer

Pro-Palestinian protesters dispersed after erecting eight tents on Beinecke Plaza to protest an upcoming talk near Yale’s campus by far-right Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. 

A crowd of around 100 protesters started to form a circle on Beinecke Plaza at around 8 p.m. By 9:30 p.m., protesters had erected eight tents, and the crowd had grown to around 200. 

“We’re here, and we’re staying the night,” a protest organizer announced via megaphone.

Organizers later announced just before 11:30 p.m. that the encampment would disband, citing threats of “retribution” from administrators and encouraging students to rally at another protest on Wednesday.

According to a University spokesperson, the protest was not affiliated with any recognized student organizations, and administrators issued final warnings for the group to disperse at 11:00 p.m. 

Yale’s policies require students to obtain prior written permission from administrators to place objects, such as tents, on campus spaces. Yale’s undergraduate regulations also state that social functions on University property must end by 11 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday nights.

“The group’s activities violated Yale’s time, place, and manner policies,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the News. “University officials clearly articulated Yale’s policies and the consequences of violating them.”

At around 10:00 p.m., Assistant Vice President for University Life Pilar Montalvo and a Free Expression Facilitator began to hand cards to protesters with a QR code linking to Yale’s free expression policies and a notice reading, “Please stop your current action immediately. If you do not, you may risk university disciplinary action and/or arrest.”

The card noted that students are allowed to protest and gather but notifies them that they are “now in violation of Yale University policies regarding free expression, peaceable assembly, and/or disruption.”

When asked if the cards constituted a notice of arrest, the Free Expression Facilitator declined to answer and instead said that they were notices of Yale’s policies. 

In response to receiving the cards, protesters chanted, “Do not scan the QR code.”

Protesters left the tent encampment standing as they dispersed from the plaza. After photographing and inspecting the empty tents, Yale Public Safety officials disassembled the encampment around 11:58 p.m. Then, they transported the tents and other items left on the plaza into Woodbridge Hall. 

The protest came just over a year after mass demonstrations broke out in April 2024 against Israel’s war in Gaza, during which students demanded that Yale divest from military weapons manufacturers.

The encampment also came a day before Ben-Gvir is set to speak at Shabtai, a Jewish society for Yale students that is not formally affiliated with the University. Ben-Gvir is one of the most far-right Israeli politicians currently in power, and his talk in New Haven will be part of his first visit to the U.S.

“At a personal level I believe it is specifically unapologetic events such at [sic] this one that has preserved Yale as a more moderate safe haven for Jews in the current toxic Ivy community of extremism,” Shmully Hecht, who leads Shabtai, wrote in an invitation to Ben-Gvir’s talk.

Promotional social media posts and live updates about the protest were first posted to the Instagram account @yalepalestineactions at around 7 p.m. The account periodically posted information about pro-Palestinian protests in 2024 but has been largely inactive since October.

A spokesperson for the Sumud Coalition — a pro-Palestinian student organization that includes Yalies4Palestine, Yale Jews for Collective Liberation in Palestine and the Endowment Justice Collective — wrote that this protest was unaffiliated with their group. The spokesperson did not respond to the News’ questions on why students in this particular protest had broken with the larger coalition. 

“It’s an autonomous group of students who object to Ben-Gvir’s presence and Yale’s silence about it,” the Sumud spokesperson said.

The protest also coincides with Bulldogs Days, Yale’s admitted students program, which brought over 1,300 admitted students to the class of 2029 to campus this year.

The 2024 protests saw two encampments, the first of which ended in the arrest of 48 protesters, including 44 Yale students. 

Chris Tillen and Josie Reich contributed reporting.

Correction, April 23: This article has been updated to remove a reference to counterprotesters. While three individuals were recording the protest, they did not engage in counterprotesting.