The University of Pennsylvania police arrested 19 protesters for their involvement in pro-Palestine protests that attempted to occupy a school building, Fisher-Bennett Hall, on Friday. As per the police report on Saturday, among the arrested, six were Pennsylvania students. The arrest was made after a week when authorities broke up a protest encampment on campus and arrested nine students.
In a press release by the University of Pennsylvania Division of Public Safety, the student community, Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine, urged supporters to bring “flags, pots, pans, noise-makers, megaphones” to the campus.
The University police supported by the city police interfered in the demonstration and escorted the protesters out. As per police reports, the site was recovered with “lock-picking tools and homemade metal shields fashioned from oil drums.”
The police had arrested seven students on Friday who remain in custody, facing felony charges, including one for assaulting an officer, campus police reported. Twelve others were cited for failing to disperse and have been released.
This attempted occupation of Fisher-Bennett Hall occurred a week after city and campus police dismantled a two-week campus encampment, arresting 33 people. Among those arrested, nine were students, and 24 had no affiliation with Penn, according to university officials.
Student protests across US universities
Students and others have set up tent encampments on campuses nationwide to protest the Israel-Hamas war, urging colleges to cut financial ties with Israel. Tensions have escalated since an April 18 police crackdown on an encampment at Columbia University, sparking the largest campus protest movement in decades and spreading to Europe.
Recently, some protesters, like in Harvard, dismantled their tents, claiming they “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands.” Others packed up after negotiating with college administrators.
Over 2,900 arrests have occurred on U.S. campuses in the past month, but activity has slowed as summer break approaches and colleges prepare for commencement ceremonies.