PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A half-dozen University of Pennsylvania students were among 19 pro-Palestine protesters arrested during an attempt to occupy a school building, university police said Saturday.
Their arrests came a week after authorities broke up an on-campus protest camp and detained nine students — and as other colleges across the country, eager to prepare for graduation season, negotiated deals with students or called the police. to dismantle protest camps.
Members of Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine announced the action Friday in the school’s Fisher-Bennett Hall, asking supporters to bring “flags, pots, pans, noisemakers, megaphones” and other items, the Division of Security said. Public University of Pennsylvania. said in a press release.
Officers could be seen approaching “within the hour,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. University police, supported by municipal police, escorted protesters out and secured the building, media outlets reported.
Police said after clearing the building they recovered “lock picking tools and homemade metal shields made from oil drums.”
Exit doors were secured with zip ties and barbed wire and barricaded with metal chairs and tables, while windows were covered with newspapers and cardboard, and metal bike racks and chairs blocked the entrances, police said.
Seven of the students arrested Friday remained in custody Saturday pending criminal charges, including one person who assaulted a police officer, campus police said. A dozen received citations for failing to disperse and following police commands. They were released from custody.
The attempted occupation of Fisher-Bennett Hall came a week after city and campus police broke up a two-week encampment on campus, arresting 33 people, nine of whom were students and two dozen of whom had “no affiliation with Penn ,” according to university officials.
Meanwhile, a group protesting the war in Gaza and demanding that the University of Chicago divest from companies that do business with Israel temporarily occupied a building on the school’s campus on Friday afternoon.
Members of the group surrounded the Institute of Politics building around 5 p.m., while others entered, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The Chicago protest follows the May 7 cleanup of a pro-Palestinian camp at the school by police. University of Chicago administrators initially took a permissive approach but said earlier this month that the protest overstepped and caused growing concerns about safety.
On Friday, campus police officers wearing riot shields gained access to the Institute of Politics building and fought with protesters. Some protesters climbed out of a second-story window, according to the Sun-Times.
The school said protesters attempted to block entry, damaged university property and ignored instructions to clear the way, and that those inside the building left when campus police officers entered.
“The University of Chicago is fundamentally committed to defending the rights of protesters to express a wide range of views,” school spokesman Gerald McSwiggan said in a statement. “At the same time, university policies make clear that protests cannot endanger public safety, disrupt university operations, or involve the destruction of property.”
No arrests or injuries were reported.
Students and others have set up camps on campuses across the country to protest the war between Israel and Hamas, pressuring universities to cut financial ties with Israel. War-related tensions have been high on campuses since the fall, but pro-Palestinian demonstrations spread quickly following the April 18 police crackdown at a camp at Columbia University.
The demonstrations reached every corner of the United States, becoming the largest university protest movement in decades, and spread to other countries, including many in Europe.
Lately, some protesters have dismantled their tents, such as at Harvard, where student activists said this week that the camp “has outlived its usefulness in terms of meeting our demands.” Others packed their bags after reaching deals with university administrators that offered amnesty to protesters, discussions about their investments and other concessions. On many other campuses, colleges called the police to disperse demonstrations.
Nearly 3,000 people were arrested on U.S. campuses last month. As summer vacation approaches, there have been fewer new arrests and campuses have become calmer. Still, colleges have been vigilant about disruptions to graduation ceremonies.
The latest war between Israel and Hamas began when Hamas and other militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostages. Palestinian militants still hold around 100 prisoners and the Israeli military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
On Thursday, police began dismantling a pro-Palestinian camp at DePaul University in Chicago, hours after the school president ordered students to leave the area or face arrest.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
