Dozens were arrested in Penn, MIT, in recent crackdowns on Gaza protests

Philadelphia officers in riot gear pushed reporters out of the University of Pennsylvania encampment, then tore down tents and tossed protesters’ belongings into a garbage truck, the student newspaper reported. About 33 people were arrested, the Penn Public Safety Department said.

A similar scene occurred simultaneously at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology near Boston, where student journalists reported that riot police arrested at least ten student protesters before leveling the encampment and throwing away their belongings.

The dawn raids were the latest efforts by school and local authorities to end such demonstrations at dozens of universities across the country. Students called for a ceasefire on Israel’s invasion of Gaza and demanded their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Many university leaders have called the encampments a security risk and sought to end them before commencement ceremonies in May, which draw large crowds of outside visitors to campus.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a statement Friday that the 10 people arrested Friday surrendered to police “peacefully,” but that the arrests came after escalating clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters.

“It was not going in a direction that could be described as peaceful,” she said, adding that “the cost and disruption to the community at large made the situation increasingly untenable.”

Penn Interim President J. Larry Jameson said in a statement Monday that “each day the encampment exists, the campus becomes less safe,” citing reports of harassment and threats, defacing campus facilities. Landmark and a video of a student being refused entrance to the camp.

Since the first mass arrests at Columbia University in New York on April 18, at least 2,600 demonstrators have been arrested at more than 100 protests in 39 states and Washington DC The complaint, a nonprofit news organization. Some police experts say such blanket detentions could be counterproductive and could fuel rather than deter protests.

There were similar protests at universities in other countries. In western Canada, local police on Thursday removed protesters from an encampment at the University of Calgary using “non-lethal munitions,” according to a statement from the city, which said the number of arrests would be released on Friday.