A nearly four-day occupation of a Portland State University building has been put to an end after anti-Israel rioters covered the building with graffiti, broke ceiling tiles, and ripped out fire extinguishers.
The occupation of a campus library began Monday when a group of agitators separated from an ongoing peaceful protest on campus. The group broke into the Branford Price Millar Library and inhabited the building until law enforcement removed them Thursday, according to KGW 8.
Upon entering the library, officers were met with a scene of mass destruction of the school’s property. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) shared photos of paint balloons, spray bottles of ink, cups of paint with a sign labeled “throw downstairs if cops come up” next to it, caches of tools, ball bearings, and what officers believe to be improvised weapons. Reportedly, none of these items were used on police.
Agitators covered the first floor of the building with a slippery substance resembling soap, likely intended to make officers fall. The PPB reported that agitators threw bottles of water at officers, and one officer was transported to a local hospital due to injuries.
The library was splattered with graffiti from floor to ceiling, as books, tables, walls, doors, desks, and windows had been covered by anti-Israel protesters.
Multiple messages on display from graffiti inside the protest at the Portland State University Library.#Portland #protestforPalestine #PDX pic.twitter.com/cqnfTrnDD4
— Independent Media PDX (@NDpendentPDX) May 2, 2024
Sentiments such as “f**k Biden,” “how many kids have you killed today?,” “resist,” “free Gaza,” and “make the right choice” could be seen scrawled across campus property.
Additionally, agitators barricaded stairwells with stacked chairs and shattered glass windows and walls inside of the building, creating an extreme safety hazard for any who entered.
Of the 12 individuals arrested Thursday morning, only 4 were Portland State University students.
In Texas, University of Texas at Arlington students say they’ve discovered a loophole to set up an encampment on campus and avoid arrest.
Police reportedly told students Thursday morning that encampments wouldn’t be allowed, so students instead brought tents and umbrellas to lay out on campus grounds, per Fox 4 KDFW.
“We will be doing our best to not give the police an excuse to arrest us,” said UT Arlington student Serahphine Pecson to Fox 4. “We learned a lot from UT Austin and UT Dallas.”
Protests on UT Austin’s campus have remained quiet since the April 29 protests that led to the arrest of 79 anti-Israel agitators.
UT Austin released a statement Monday claiming that weapons such as “guns, buckets of large rocks, bricks, steel enforced wood planks, mallets, and chains” had been confiscated from agitators. Additionally, the statement reported that protesters had assaulted people during the riots.
However, prosecutors state that no weapon or assault charges have been filed.
“It’s concerning … we work in the world of evidence and facts, and we have not seen a single weapons charge or assault charge,” said Travis County Attorney Delia Garza to KERA News.
She also noted that none of the arrest warrants she viewed mentioned any of the weapons or assaults referred to in UT Austin’s statement. She additionally called for the university to re-examine its policies amid the high influx of arrests on misdemeanor charges she qualified as “unsustainable.”
UT Austin’s next protest is planned for Sunday, May 5. It was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed the day of.
At the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, two fraternity brothers have garnered national attention after they were photographed holding up the U.S. flag amid an anti-Israel protest on campus, per Fox News.
Anti-Israel activists replaced the U.S. flag early Tuesday morning with a Palestinian flag. Law enforcement officers later resurrected the U.S. flag, and when the protesters tried to take it down a second time, a group of students, including the fraternity brothers, stepped in, preventing it from hitting the ground.
“I love America,” said Alex Jones, one of the fraternity brothers who held up the flag, to Fox News.
“It’s good to see people still willing to put their bodies on the line, their mind and soul on the line, to protect this flag. There’s still patriots in this country that actually want to fight and would sacrifice themselves for this flag, for this country.”
A GoFundMe titled “Pi Kappa Phi Men Defended their flag. Throw ’em a Rager” has since raised over $500,000.