Pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the University of Chicago Institute of Politics building Friday afternoon, overturning furniture, damaging property and confronting the institute’s director, former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. She refused their request to leave her office, university officials said, adding that she was the only staff member in the building.
The protest continued into the evening in front of the institute, which is about two blocks from where the police are stationed. removed a protest encampment last week.
In a statement, the protest group said Friday that it occupied the building to protest the University of Chicago’s ties to Israel. Video released by a bystander showed protesters climbing through second-story windows to leave the building, to applause from the crowd below.
After protesters were removed from the building by police, other demonstrators remained outside and in nearby courtyards, chanting, shouting and beating drums.
Jeremy Manier, a university spokesman, said in a statement that protesters attempted to block the entrance to the building, damaged property and ignored law enforcement orders to leave.
“The University of Chicago is fundamentally committed to respecting the rights of protesters to express a wide range of opinions,” he said. “At the same time, university policies make clear that protests cannot endanger public safety, disrupt university operations, or involve the destruction of property. »
Officials said that earlier in the day, the institute held a board meeting in the building, which was attended by David Axelrod, the organization’s founder and senior adviser to President Barack Obama.
The Institute of Politics is two doors down from Hillel University in Chicago and across the street from Rohr Chabad, where some students were having a Sabbath dinner when the protest began. As the protest continued, counter-protesters waved Israeli flags in full view of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Rock music blared from a nearby house, in what appeared to be an attempt to drown out the protest chants.
A sign identifying the Institute of Politics building was covered with a cardboard sign reading “permanent ceasefire now” and a series of demands were attached to the building. Among the demands was “the abolition of the university”.
A group of protesters at the University of Pennsylvania also attempted to occupy a campus building Friday evening. University police and Philadelphia police made several arrests and evacuated the building, Fisher-Bennett Hall. The hall is opposite College Green, the site of the encampment which was erased last week by the police.
Mattathias Schwartz And Jeremy W. Peters reports contributed.
