Quakertown Community High School Walkout Statement

On Friday, February 20th, 35-60 students from Quakertown Community High School (QCHS) walked out in protest of ICE terror in our communities. This free expression of teenagers fighting injustice was met with violence from adult bystanders and the state. The students bravely defended their peers from assault by men on the scene, including Quakertown Chief of Police and Borough Manager Scott McElree, who, in plainclothes, put a teenage girl in a chokehold. Several students remain detained following the incident, a grossly punitive measure against minors defending themselves.

QCHS administrators identified a “potential safety threat” and asked the students not to walk out. Indeed, the actual safety threat was the police. The very agency that purports to protect the rights and safety of our communities has shown itself once again as a force of violent repression against anyone, even children, who challenge the status quo. Our students deserve investments not in agencies of brutality, punishment, and surveillance, but in education, healthcare, housing–in short, their futures.

BuxMont DSA demands the immediate release of all student protestors who have been detained following this incident and the immediate resignation of Scott McElree from his public offices.

Call the Bucks County Youth Detention Center (215-340-8300) and Quakertown Police Department (215-536-5002) to demand the release of all detained students TODAY and the resignation of Scott McElree.