ISP Superintendent weighs in on Bloomington protests [Video]

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana State Police and protesters in Bloomington have clashed twice in the last four days.

ISP Superintendent Doug Carter said troopers were attempting to help the Indiana University Police Department break up protester encampments near Dunn Meadow. He added that state police had meetings with IU officials before troopers were sent to Bloomington.

“We are watching Palestinian protests all over the country at other universities, so we had a pretty good idea of what the message was going to be,” Carter said of what state police expected to find in Bloomington. “But what we didn’t understand at the time was that it was going to be, the language would be hate language.”

IUPD announced that more than 30 people were arrested during Thursday’s protests. University police indicated that 23 people were arrested during Saturday’s protests.

IU has policies that ban the establishment of encampments without prior permission. Carter said the university asked state police to help them enforce that rule.

“One of the rules …