65-Year-Old Man 'Lucky to Be Alive' After Arrest at Campus Protest

A 65-year-old history professor was recording video during a pro-Palestinian protest when he was "brutally beaten by police" while being arrested, his wife said on social media where she shared a video of the scuffle.

Steve Tamari, professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, was among dozens arrested at Washington University (WashU) on Saturday during the protest.

His wife, Sandra Tamari, shared a video of her husband's arrest on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday and the footage shows the history professor appearing to shoot video on a cell phone as law enforcement officers approach the makeshift encampment and start making arrests.

The video of the professor's detainment shows multiple officers grabbing Steve Tamari and bringing him to the ground before dragging him away. Three other officers blocked parts of the arrest from view as Tamari is on the ground.

"I was arrested at the Gaza encampment at Washington University in St. Louis on Sat.," Sandra Tamari wrote on X. "My husband, a 65-year old full professor at S Illinois Univ Edwardsville, was brutally beaten by police. Here is the video of his arrest. He's wearing the yellow jacket."

Newsweek reached out via email and social media Tuesday night to the Tamaris, WashU police and university officials for comment.

On Tuesday, activist group Resist Wash U held a press conference in Forest Park where a statement from Steve Tamari was read, according to local media. Nawal Abuhamdeh, who was at the protest on Saturday, said Tamari was unable to attend the press conference because he was still in the hospital, then read Tamari's statement.

"Over the last seven months," Steve Tamari's statement read, "I've been in agony watching my people in Palestine be slaughtered with U.S. bombs and funding. I joined the student-led protests on Saturday to stop the genocide and support and protect the students."

Tamari said that during the arrest, he was "body-slammed and crushed by the weight of several St. Louis County police officers and then dragged across campus by the police. As a result of police brutality, I am now in the hospital with multiple broken ribs and a broken hand."

Newsweek also reached out via email to St. Louis County Police Department for comment.

In a statement responding to the campus protest and mass arrest on Saturday, WashU Chancellor Andrew Martin said a total of 100 people were arrested, including 23 WashU students and at least four employees. Three police officers received "significant" injuries, the chancellor said.

"Saturday was a dark, sad day for WashU. A large group of individuals came to campus intending to disrupt, do harm, and interfere with educational activities and campus life," Martin said. "When the group began to set up an encampment, which is in clear violation of our explicitly stated policies, we asked them to leave, multiple times. They did not leave voluntarily, so we made the decision to peaceably remove them. Unfortunately, they physically resisted."

Martin said that everyone arrested is facing criminal charges for trespassing and some additional charges for resisting arrest and assault. "We are taking what happened very seriously."

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have erupted at universities across the U.S. following the arrests of protesters who set up a "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" at Columbia University in New York City on April 18. Over the last two weeks, hundreds of protesters have been arrested after creating similar encampments on campuses across the country, calling for their universities to divest from companies supporting Israel, as well as a permanent cease-fire to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel counterattacked after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an assault on October 7 that killed roughly 1,200 people and saw over 200 more taken hostage in Gaza. In nearly seven months of conflict, the Palestinian death toll has topped 34,000, with more than 76,000 injured in the war-torn territory, according to the Associated Press, per the Gaza Health Ministry. While the Hamas-run ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in their figures, it says at least two-thirds have been children and women.

The war has displaced over 80 percent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, destroying several towns and cities, and pushing those remaining in northern Gaza toward famine.

The staggering number of Palestinian deaths has sparked widespread criticism and scrutiny from across the globe. The death toll and harrowing photos of children dead in the rubble of wrecked buildings have sparked increasing demands for a cease-fire.