Police in riot gear begin dismantling anti-Israel forcesI They set up an encampment at the University of Pennsylvania early Friday morning and arrested protesters after more than two weeks of demonstrations on campus.
Around 6 a.m., officers in tactical gear warned protesters for two minutes that they would be arrested if they left the Philadelphia campus. NBC10 reported.
It is unclear how many protesters were detained at the encampment, which was set up 16 days ago.
As of 7 a.m., the majority of demonstrators had either dispersed or been detained, the paper said.
Six students had previously been placed on “enforced leave” from their Ivy League school for participating in protests.
“Today, in accordance with our policy, the university placed six students on mandatory temporary leave of absence pending the outcome of a Center for Community Standards and Accountability disciplinary investigation. “This is the result of the university’s continued response to the permit encampment,” the school said in a statement Thursday.
Protesters on campus refused to show their student IDs, and one anti-Israel group celebrated last week that no arrests were made for not complying in the days following the demand.
“Thanks to our collective will and strength, we were able to call the regime’s bluff, resist the panic they were trying to mount, and win this first battle,” UPenn’s Palestine the School of Justice wrote on Instagram Monday.
The UPenn encampment is one of many anti-Israel protests that have taken over college campuses across the United States over the past few weeks.
AP
Most of the demonstrations have occurred in response to the tent movement at Columbia University, where hundreds of students and other protesters have been arrested for trespassing and other violations.
Protesters at the encampment are calling on the university to leave Israel because of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, but the demonstration has been criticized for anti-Semitic and hateful rhetoric.
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