Palestinian protesters set up new camp at Drexel University – Winnipeg Free Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Palestinian protesters set up a new encampment at Drexel University in Philadelphia over the weekend, prompting the closure of the school buildings a day after authorities blocked an attempted takeover on the campus of the neighboring University of Pennsylvania.

After several hundred demonstrators marched from Philadelphia City Hall to West Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, Drexel said in a statement that about 75 protesters began setting up camp in Corman Quad on campus. On Sunday, about a dozen tents remained, barricaded and guarded by police. No arrests have been reported.

Drexel President John Frye said in a statement late Saturday that the camp “raises understandable concerns about the safety of all,” citing “numerous well-documented instances of hate speech and threatening behavior at other campus demonstrations.” University buildings are “open only to those authorized by Drexel Public Safety,” he said.

Authorities at Drexel, which has about 22,000 students, were monitoring the demonstration to ensure it was peaceful and did not disrupt normal operations and that “participants and bystanders were respectful of each other,” Fry said.

“We will be prepared to respond quickly to any disruptive or threatening behavior by anyone,” Fry said, including destruction of property, “harassment or intimidation” of students or staff, or any form of intimidation, including “overtly racist, anti-Semitic promised not to allow it. , or Islamophobic” report. Anyone who is not part of the Drexel community is not allowed to “enter our buildings and our student residences,” he said.

On Friday night, members of Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine held a rally at the University of Pennsylvania's Fisher-Bennett Hall, urging supporters to bring “flags, pots, pans, noisemakers, megaphones” and other items.

Campus police, backed by University City police, removed demonstrators and arrested 19 people, including six University of Pennsylvania students, on Friday evening. The university's public safety department said officials found “locking devices and improvised metal shields” and sealed off exit doors secured with zippers and barbed wire, windows covered with newspaper and cardboard, and entrances.

Authorities said seven people arrested will face felony charges, including one accused of assaulting an officer, and a dozen others were issued citations for failure to obey police orders and dispersal.

The attempted takeover of the building came after city and campus police broke up a two-week encampment on campus and arrested 33 people, nine of whom were students and about two dozen “unaffiliated with Penn,” according to university officials. .

Dozens of George Washington University graduates walked out of the commencement ceremony on Sunday, interrupting University President Ellen Granberg's speech to protest the continued siege of Gaza and the clearing of a campus protest camp where police used pepper spray and dozens of people last week. about arrests.

The ceremony at the base of the Washington Monument began peacefully, with fewer than 100 protesters demonstrating in front of the Museum of African American History and Culture across the street. But as Granberg began to speak, at least 70 students among the graduates began chanting and waving signs and Palestinian flags. Then, as Granberg spoke, the students stormed out and crossed the street to a quick response from the protesters.

Students and others pitched tents on campuses across the country to protest the Israel-Hamas war and demanded colleges cut financial ties to Israel. Tensions have been high on campuses over the war since the fall, but demonstrations quickly dissipated after police overran a camp at Columbia University on April 18.

Nearly 3,000 people have been arrested on US campuses in the past month. As summer vacation approaches, new arrests decrease and campuses become quieter. Still, colleges were wary of interruptions during commencement ceremonies.

President Joe Biden told Morehouse College graduates on Sunday that he heard the voices of protest from some students wearing keffiyeh scarves over their black gowns and that the scenes of conflict in Gaza were heartbreaking. He said he called for an “immediate ceasefire” and the return of Hamas hostages, given what he called a “humanitarian crisis”.

The latest Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostages. Palestinian militants are still holding about 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 fighters.