One pro-Palestine protestor was arrested on Sunday night after a new anti-Israel encampment was constructed at the University of Pittsburgh earlier that day.
The Office of Safety and Emergency Management at Pitt has confirmed on Sunday evening that the Cathedral of Learning remained “closed until further notice” on Monday due to “a protest in the vicinity” of the building.
Pitt confirmed, “UPPD and City of Pittsburgh Police are aware and are responding to the incident,” before advising the public to avoid the area and prepare for traffic delays.
Both the university and Pitt Police confirmed the closure in a statement posted to the social media platform X.
The Cathedral of Learning and the WPU will be closed until further notice. Please check https://t.co/Wg0aMqsgSz for future updates. https://t.co/H2yN9qQ1Vm
— University of Pittsburgh (@PittTweet) June 2, 2024
According to Pittsburgh City Paper, protestors used “wooden planks and wire fencing” to construct a barrier around 5 p.m. on Sunday. By 7 p.m., university police, state troopers and other departments had barricaded the protestors inside the encampment.
The outlet reported the protestor, Don Johnson, was arrested by 8 p.m. “for trying to bring supplies into the encampment.”
4 ABC reported that Johnson was not affiliated with Pitt, citing university sources. The report explained that Johnson was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and obstruction.
The anti-Israel protestors reportedly became animated after police declared they would not be allowed to leave the encampment to retrieve water or other supplies.
After that information was relayed, the outlet reported, “Protesters ran past police, bringing water bottles in one by one. Police then had to intervene, and at times, get physical.”
Video that purportedly shows police responding to the encampment, posted online by apparent supporters of the anti-Israel protest, indicates physical violence erupted between protestors and police officers.
🚨 U Pitt
Undercover officers join uniformed police in stomping and kicking Gaza solidarity protesters who are on the ground. This is on university campus after administration unleashed State Patrol on their own students last night. pic.twitter.com/2flHLE6Wec
— Escalate Network (@readytoescalate) June 3, 2024
While 4 ABC interviewed a protestor who claimed the anti-Israel encampment was not constructed due to “any specific occasion,” a post shared by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in Pitt account on Instagram indicates its creation may be linked to the Revolt for Rafah encampment at Columbia University.
Rafah is a city located in the Gaza Strip in Palestine that is currently the site of fighting between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas terrorists. Israel recently acknowledged the accidental bombing of a refugee camp in Rafah, which the country described as a “grave mistake” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “tragic mishap.”
A second post from the Pitt Divest From Apartheid account on Instagram, which appears to be affiliated with the SJP in Pitt account, used the “#revolt4rafah” hashtag.
The post included a statement on the reestablishment of the encampment, declaring, “students, faculty, staff, and community members of the University of Pittsburgh have re-established a Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning.”
They asserted, “the campus is reclaimed in the name of the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea,” which the American Jewish Committee explains is antisemitic because it demands “erasing the State of Israel and its people,” instead replacing them with a nation called Palestine.
A previous post to social media suggests the protestors are demanding “full disclosure of all university investments in the Israeli apartheid regime,” “an acknowledgement of genocide and a statement in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” and “full material divestment from any entity” associated with Israel.
On the other side of Pennsylvania, protestors at the now-defunct anti-Israel encampment at Drexel University demanded two Jewish campus groups and one Jewish faculty member to be “terminated” due to their ties to Israel.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “University of Pittsburgh Protesters” by pittapartheiddivest.
