Protesters march through University City; police disbanded encampment at Penn and arrested 33 people

Police on Friday disbanded the 16-day old pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania, less than 24 hours after Gov. Josh Shapiro called for its removal and over the objections of free speech advocates. At times, the scene on College Green in the heart of the Ivy League campus appeared like a game of cat and mouse, but it escalated over 48 hours into a full takedown by police, similar to what has happened at some campuses across the nation, such as Columbia University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The move at Penn had been under discussion as a possibility for at least nine days as Penn officials tried unsuccessfully to come to an agreement with student protesters over the activists’ demands and sought help from city police in preparing to remove the encampment and its inhabitants when and if they felt it necessary.

Around 10:40, organizers announced that the action had come to an end.

“Once we leave here everyone will disperse. Do not stay in this intersection. And again, keep an eye out for all upcoming actions and get home safe,” an organizer told those gathered.

A crowd of about 100 people, some waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyahs, walked down Chestnut and turned left on 33rd. Around 10:30, they stood in a large circle in the intersection, clapping and chanting “the students united will never be defeated.” The crowd was peaceful and largely young.

The group was followed by a line of Philadelphia police cars and vans, blocking off parts of 33rd, their blue and red lights blinking.

Hours after the dismantling of the pro-Palestinian encampment at Penn, protesters gathered at the Woodlands Cemetery before marching through University City toward interim university president Larry Jameson's home at 38th and Walnut. 

There, protesters held a rally outside of the home, with Penn issuing an alert that a large demonstration was in the area, and police were on the scene. Video of the rally posted to social media shows protesters banging on the door of Jameson's home before police pulled them back.

Nine of the 33 people arrested during the dismantling of the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania were students, a school spokesperson said.

The other 24 people arrested were not affiliated with Penn. Previously, the university indicated that seven of those arrested were students.

As Gov. Josh Shapiro first called for the University of Pennsylvania to disband an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters, he knew Penn and the city were already behind the scenes working to end it.

Shapiro said at a news conference Thursday the protest had reached an “absolutely unacceptable point.” It was “past time for the university to act to address this, to disband the encampment and restore order and safety on campus,” he added.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker spent much of the last week trying to avoid a forceful end to the pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the University of Pennsylvania.

But in the end, it was up to her to decide whether to fulfill Penn’s request for Philadelphia cops to help disband it.

Nada was sleeping at the encampment when a voice saying “you have two minutes to leave the property or you will be arrested” woke her up.

The Drexel graduate student —who did not want her last name used out of fear of retaliation — described what followed as a “blur.”

Penn senior Chapin Lenthall-Cleary said he didn’t agree with many of the chants voiced at the encampment. But after learning of the university’s decision to remove the protesters, Lenthall-Cleary decided to show up to an afternoon gathering at the LOVE statue on Penn’s campus and support the students and faculty backing the encampment.

“They deserve a great deal of respect for their willingness to face personal consequences, arrest, and being placed on leave,” the 22-year-old said. No one who shuts down a peaceful protest "is ever on the right side," he added.

About 40 Penn faculty members and students passing by gathered at the LOVE statue at the center of campus to decry the disbanding of the encampment Friday morning. 

Wearing keffiyahs and silently holding their signs that read “We support our students,” they took turns sharing a megaphone. 

The University of Pennsylvania's reasoning for dismantling the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus is an attempt to "foster division and push student frustration onto" the demonstrators' cause, organizers said Friday.

Previously, Penn administrators said that the encampment had been preventing students from accessing school areas and resources and attending final exams. As a result, the school said, campus had been "disrupted for far too long" during the two weeks the encampment was active.

When some Penn students woke up to the news that police had cleared the protest encampment on Friday morning, they were disappointed in their university.

“It was pretty sad to hear that the Philadelphia Police militarized themselves and descended upon campus. I don’t think that’s a welcome sight,” said Aaron Osei, a senior.

Tulia G. Falleti, chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s faculty senate, has resigned her position as chair, saying she is “heartbroken” at the university’s decision to forcefully dismantle the pro-Palestinian encampment.

“I am…no longer confident of my ability to work collaboratively with our administration that has sent in the police to arrest its own students, staff, and faculty for participating in a non-violent protest,” wrote Falleti, in a three-page letter explaining her decision.

A symbol of the war in Gaza that has circulated online and been used in rallies appeared this week at the site of the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania.

The symbol is a red inverted triangle, with two corners facing east and west and a third corner facing south. Its meaning is contested in a war that has seen Palestinian deaths surpass 34,000 after Hamas’ October attack on Israel.

Faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania condemned the decision by the school to forcibly disband a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus Friday morning.

In a statement, Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors called the move a “cowardly, shameful attempt to silence and punish speech that administrators simply do not want to hear.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia praised Penn for disbanding the encampment in a statement Friday.

“While free speech and critical thinking are essential tenets both on and off college campuses, it had become increasingly clear over the past two weeks that the encampment fostered an atmosphere of intimidation and harassment, particularly towards Jews on campus," the group said. "At a time when antisemitism is at an all-time high, institutions of higher education have a responsibility to ensure that the safety and well-being of Jewish students and faculty is protected."

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office said the University of Pennsylvania “made the right decision to dismantle the encampment,” less than a day after the Democratic governor called on the university to remove it.

Up until Thursday — when six students participating in the encampment were placed on mandatory leaves of absence — Shapiro had said repeatedly students and faculty had the right to protest as long as they weren’t breaking any laws during the 16-day protest.

Philadelphia Police agreed to assist the University of Pennsylvania in disbanding the encampment after it became clear the student protesters and the school could not come to an agreement, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said in a statement.

In the statement released jointly with Chief Public Safety Director Adam Geer and City Solicitor Renee Garcia, Parker said Penn initially requested assistance from the administration more than a week ago.

Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), speaking Friday at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Old City, lauded the University of Pennsylvania's decision to break up the pro-Palestinian student encampment at dawn Friday morning.

"It's a great American tradition to protest," Casey told reporters, "but at some point, when a protest begins to affect the ability of others to get to class, or to in this case, with an impending graduation, it begins to infringe upon others rights."

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner visited the University of Pennsylvania's campus shortly before 9:30 a.m. at the former encampment site. He said that protesters were given code violation notices.

“My understanding at this time is that 33 people have been arrested that they are going to be given [Code Violation Notices], that is essentially a civil violation, it’s not actually a criminal charge and that they are being processed now,” said Krasner.

Penn, in an email Friday morning, explained its decision to dismantle the pro-Palestinian encampment.

“Our community has been under threat and our campus disrupted for too long,” Penn president J. Larry Jameson and other Penn leaders said. “Passion for a cause cannot supersede the safety and operations of our University.”

A student reporter with the Daily Pennsylvanian — Penn’s student newspaper— told The Inquirer that Penn police officers removed him from the site of the encampment while he was reporting.

The student, who declined to be named over safety concerns, covers Penn administration and has been reporting from the encampment almost daily.

Police reopened 34th Street to traffic just after 9:20 a.m., and a dozen people continued to chant “disclose divest, we will not stop we will not rest” in front of a line of officers.

A little while later, police began to take away barricades they had erected earlier Friday morning. The last few people protesting disbanded.

Penn in a statement said 33 individuals, including seven Penn students, were arrested Friday morning when police dismantled the pro-Palestinian encampment. 

None of the other 26 people arrested were affiliated with Penn, officials said. Students from other Philadelphia universities had also been taking part in the encampment.

Two West Philadelphia lawmakers said in a joint statement Friday morning that they are “disappointed that riot police dismantled a peaceful student-led protest this morning.”

“From the start, we advocated for a negotiated, nonviolent resolution,” City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and state Rep. Rick Krajewski said. “Sending a large militarized police force against students and faculty is an inappropriate and deeply concerning response.”

Dagmawi Woubshet, an English professor who was led away by police after sitting in protest, called Friday’s dismantling of the protest encampment a “sad day” in Penn’s history.

“A low point at this university,” said Woubshet. “It’s abhorrent. It’s abhorrent. To take such punitive reprehensible action against its own students, it’s a shameful act. A very low sad day for the University of Pennsylvania.”

Most signs of the Gaza solidarity encampment at Penn's College Green were largely gone by 8:30 a.m.

A heavy police presence, additional barricades set up on 34th and Walnut Streets, and fencing blocking access to the Stuart Weitzman Plaza were the few indicators of the sweep that had taken place a few hours earlier.

Chi-ming Yang, an English professor at Penn, was one of two professors escorted away from 34th and Walnut after sitting in protest and solidarity with student protesters. 

“We’re professors here,” said Yang. “We pledged to stand with our students who had a peaceful protest encampment. They wouldn’t let us in to be with our students. They would not let legal observers in to observe what was happening inside College Green."

Amy Offner, an associate professor of history and president of the Penn chapter of the American Association of University Professors, called the move to arrest members of the Penn community “cowardly and appalling,” asserting that the faculty and students were "engaged in nonviolent antiwar protest."

“We condemn the university administration, we demand the immediate release of all our students and colleagues, and we demand the reversal of all discipline and charges against students who have been the victim of the university administration’s own violation of its Guidelines on Open Expression,” she said in a statement.

Not long after encampment members were arrested and cleared from Penn's College Green, university staff began to pile tents, lawn chairs, pillows, Palestinian flags, and signage in support of Gaza.

By 7:45 a.m. a Penn dumpster truck had pulled up and facilities staff were stuffing it full as police looked on and supporters of the encampment protested at the edge of the green.

Five people, identified by organizers as students and faculty, were detained by police after attempting to block a police van by sitting on the ground.

Supporters chanted “We love you. We see you. We will get justice for you” as officers detained the five protesters.

A member of Up Against the Law Legal Collective denounced the removal of several legal observers from Locust Walk as arrests took place Friday.

The observer asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely— legal observers don't typically speak to press because they aim to be neutral witnesses.

Benjamin Abella, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, wishes Penn had acted earlier to take down the encampment, which was in its 16th day, but also said he “respected the fact that this is a delicate situation.”

Abella was one of leaders of a petition that drew more than 3,000 signatures and called on Penn to remove the encampment. He and others delivered the petition to Penn president J. Larry Jameson last week.

College Green appears to have been cleared and protesters are gone. The center of campus, where dozens of protesters have camped for weeks, was quiet, save for the sound of rain, chirps of birds, and hum of police radio. Their tents and signs were left strewn about the grass.

Most of the Philadelphia police in riot gear reloaded onto buses and left campus.

Just before 7 a.m., police attempted to drive a van with protesting students who had been detained when a group of seven faculty members made a human chain to stop it from passing through.

Students chanted “faculty with students, Free Palestine,” and the van retreated.

Members of Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine were outside the encampment area Friday morning as the dismantling was occurring.

“One word, abhorrent,” said Dagmawi Woubshet, an associate professor of English, who is a member of the group. He said faculty members would be assisting students who have been arrested.

A few dozen protesters camped out on Penn’s campus were arrested this morning, said Deputy Policr Commissioner Frank Vanore.

The true count of arrests was not yet available as the disbandment of the group remained in progress.

Dozens of Penn and Philadelphia Police officers equipped with riot shields and zip ties surrounded the more than two week old Gaza solidarity encampment at Penn’s College Green early Friday morning.

Walnut Street traffic was blocked by police cars at 33rd and 34th Streets and lined with several police vans.

Citing increasing unlawfulness, Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday called on the University of Pennsylvania to disband a pro-Palestinian encampment that has spent two weeks on the Ivy League campus.

“Over the last 24 hours ... the situation has gotten even more unstable and out of control,” Shapiro said during an event in Westmoreland County. “More rules have been violated, more laws have been broken. That is absolutely unacceptable.