EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — A protest over police funding that began on Northwestern University’s campus spilled over into downtown Evanston, resulting in a clash with local police, authorities said Sunday.
Northwestern spokesman Jon Yates says Evanston police used pepper spray on demonstrators after bricks and other objects were thrown at officers overnight Saturday. Yates says a student who was arrested during the demonstration was released Sunday.
Evanston police did not immediately provide details about the demonstration, but spokesman Brian Henry confirmed the events as Yates described them.
“Northwestern protects the right to protest, but we do not condone breaking the law,” Yates said in a statement.
Student protesters said they were demanding the abolishment of the university’s police department. Students have been protesting the existence of the department since Oct. 12. Northwestern president Morton Schapiro in a past statement acknowledged student concerns about injustice, but said the university has no intention of dissolving its police department.
Schapiro has also claimed demonstrators have tried to provoke university police, calling the protests an “abomination,” and adding the protesters should be ashamed of themselves.
One student protester, who asked not to be identified on fear of retaliation, told the Chicago Tribune he blamed Schapiro’s opposition to the protests for Saturday’s disturbance.
