Students were arrested as police cleared protest camps in Penn, MIT, Arizona

Police made more than 40 arrests as pro-Palestinian protest camps were broken up at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday, hours after police used tear gas on protesters and dismantled a similar camp at the University of Arizona.

The takedown at Penn occurred around 5:30 a.m. when campus and Philadelphia police moved in to remove protesters from the encampment that had been in place for more than two weeks. School officials said the protesters were warned and given the opportunity to leave the school without being arrested. About 33 people, including students and faculty, were arrested without incident and charged with trespassing, the school said.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, a video showed police officers roaming through the MIT camp. Around 4 a.m., police arrived in riot gear, surrounded the camp and gave protesters about 15 minutes to leave. Ten remaining students were arrested, the university’s president said. A crowd outside the camp began to gather and chant pro-Palestinian slogans, but was dispersed by 6 a.m

At the University of Arizona in Tucson, campus police in riot gear fired tear gas at protesters late Thursday before dismantling an encampment of wooden and plastic barriers on campus. In a statement, the university said the camp violated school policy.

“After 5 p.m., a structure made of wooden pallets and other debris was constructed on the campus premises in violation of guidelines,” the school said in a statement. “University officials issued warnings to disperse and disperse the camp. The warnings were ignored.”

The school also said police vehicles were spiked and that rocks and water bottles were thrown at officers and university staff.

Tensions have escalated with clashes with protesters on college campuses across the United States and Europe. Some colleges immediately cracked down, while others tolerated the demonstrations. Some have begun to lose patience and call the police because of concerns about disruption to campus life and safety.

The protest movement began almost three weeks ago at Columbia University in New York City. It has since swept across university campuses across the country, with protesters generally trying to draw attention to deaths from the Israel-Hamas war or calling on their schools to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its war efforts. Almost 2,900 people were arrested in the United States

The move at MIT came several days after police first attempted to clear the encampment, only to see protesters storm past barriers and the encampment, which includes about a dozen tents in the heart of the Cambridge campus, restored.

Before the camp was disbanded, MIT had begun suspending dozens of students earlier in the week, meaning they could not participate in academic activities or commencement classes.

The protesters insisted the move would not stop them from demanding MIT end all ties with the Israeli military. The camp had been operating for at least weeks, particularly angering Jewish students who had been holding counter-protests nearby.

“This will only make us stronger. You can’t stop the movement,” said Quinn Perian, an MIT student and organizer of MIT Jews for Ceasefire. “We will continue and will not give in until MIT agrees to cut ties with the Israeli military. MIT would rather arrest and suspend some students than end their complicity in the Gaza genocide.”

MIT President Sally Kornbluth, trying to balance acknowledgment of the suffering in Gaza with concern for the “safety of our community,” warned on Monday that the camp must be evacuated.

In a letter confirming Friday’s arrests, she wrote that it was her responsibility to “ensure that the campus is physically safe and functional for everyone … and that everyone feels free to express their opinions.” The camp, she wrote, “made it increasingly impossible to fulfill all of these obligations.”

Casey and Shipkowski write for the Associated Press.