Boston police officer attempts to reason with anti-Israel protesters
Body camera video released Thursday by the Boston Police Department showed officers talking with Emerson College student protesters and attempting to disperse the large group.
Newly released body camera footage from the Boston Police Department shed light on a police officer's interaction with anti-Israel demonstrators as protests continue to rage across America's college campuses.
The body camera footage obtained by Fox News Digital shows an unidentified police officer approaching a group of demonstrators from Emerson College huddled on a street corner in front of a public alley entryway in the Massachusetts city at 1:30 on Thursday morning.
The officer is heard attempting in vain to reason with the agitators.
"We don't want to arrest anybody. We support your right to protest. I'm indifferent. I don't have a side either way. I want you to be able to peacefully do this," the officer said. "However, with the blocking the street — I cannot have that."
"I need to have this open," the officer is heard calmly saying to the protesters who were blocking the Boston street. "I have to remove you from there. I do not want to arrest anyone."
Body camera video released Thursday by the Boston Police Department showed officers talking with Emerson College anti-Israel protesters. (Boston Police Department)
The officer is heard telling the protesters that he did not want their continued protest to "screw up" the end of their college semester.
"I want you to be able to protest. Again, I'm indifferent. We're not trying to prevent you from protesting. I don't sympathize either way, however, there is a fire code that has been broken and a lot of things going on here that we cannot allow," he said. "There's a building here that people are employed and that need emergency access.
"With that being said, I think you can tell, that we don't want to arrest anyone, we don't want anyone to get hurt, we don't want anyone to get screwed up at school with grades or whatever," the officer continued. "I'm trying to work with you all. Trust me, I'm not the enemy on this."
Boston police officers observe a large group of anti-Israel demonstrators. (Boston Police Department)
The Boston police officer said that he had been reasonable with the anti-Israel protesters, but that they needed to disperse.
"You guys have been protesting all day. I get it and I support what you are trying to do. However, at this point it is late. People live here. We've been getting a lot of complaints," he said.
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"We let it go for a while. We were supposed to come down at 10 p.m., we're looking to give you space to let you all do this, but at a certain point, they have to go to work in the morning as well," he said. "We're trying to be reasonable with you all."
The demonstrators were asked to disperse at 1:30 a.m. by police officers. (Boston Police Department)
"So again, I'm not trying to be unreasonable. I've given you several extra hours. I do not want to arrest anyone. I want you all to go back to school tomorrow and finish your finals," the officer said. "You can protest, but you have to do it the right way."
"We don't want to escalate this," he added.
As the officer came to the end of his plea to the students, they suddenly interrupted the officer, loudly chanting, "Free, free Palestine! Free, free Palestine! Free, free Palestine!"
Boston police officers are interrupted by "free, free Palestine" chants. (Boston Police Department)
WATCH:
Following the officer's attempt, the Emerson University protest spiraled and resulted in four officers being injured and 108 people arrested.
Dramatic footage showed protesters clashing with police officers in the late-night chaos.
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Emerson canceled classes Thursday in the wake of the arrests.
Emerson College did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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