Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied a building that houses the offices of Stanford University’s president and provost early Wednesday, but law enforcement officers quickly removed them and made multiple arrests, the university said.
The takeover began near dawn on the last day of classes for the spring quarter. Approximately 10 students barricaded themselves in the building while some 50 others linked arms outside, The Stanford Daily reported.
The group chanted “Palestine will be free, we will free Palestine.” Within about two hours officers had broken into the building and began taking people into custody.
“A group of individuals this morning unlawfully entered Building 10, which houses the offices of the president and provost,” spokesperson Dee Mostofi said in an email to The Associated Press.
“The Stanford Department of Public Safety has responded to the scene and is assessing the situation. Other campus operations have not been affected at this time.”
Protesters painted “Our office now” on a win-dow and chanted, “Palestine will be free, we will free Palestine,” the school’s newspaper reported.
About two hours after the occupation began, law enforcement officers used a crowbar to enter the building and began making arrests, the Daily said.
Stanford is among colleges and universities around the country where activists are demanding their schools separate themselves from companies advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza and in some cases from Israel itself.
“We are appalled that our students chose to take this action and we will work with law enforcement to ensure that they face the full consequences allowed by law. All arrested students will be immediately suspended and in case any of them are seniors, they will not be allowed to graduate.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if “will not be al-lowed to graduate” meant students would be barred from commencement ceremonies or kicked out of school entirely without being able to claim a degree.
Wednesday is the last day of classes for the spring term with graduation ceremonies set for June 15-16.
“We have consistently emphasized the need for constructive engagement and peaceful protest when there is a disagreement in views,” Mostofi said. “This was not peaceful protest and actions such as what occurred this morning have no place at Stanford.”
The protesters are demanding that the school divest itself of any financial interests in any companies “that provide material and logistical support to Israel’s current military campaign,” according to the group.
College students across the nation staged cam-pus protests this spring, demanding that their schools withdraw any investments they say are helping Israeli forces in their military operations in the Gaza Strip.—AFP
