Several students then grew impatient and attempted to end the lockdown themselves by raiding the building, and in doing so caused a physical altercation with security, whom they proceeded to pelt with expletives and other imprecations.
By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner
The campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania led a failed takeover of an administrative building that it was forced to abandon after just 11 hours, according to a recent report by The Phoenix, the school’s campus daily.
“Chaos and uncertainty ruled campus yesterday,” wrote staff writers Daniel Perrin and Ella Walker on Thursday, describing the welter of events that saw SJP occupy the Parrish Hall administrative building and security officials launch a frenetic operation to boot them out.
While SJP had announced an “emergency rally” scheduled for noon that day, there was little indication that it planned on commandeering the building and remaining inside of it indefinitely, according to the report in The Phoenix.
“Swarthmore students hold sit-in to demand accountability for political repression and complicity in genocide,” SJP said in a statement after revealing its intentions.
“We will not rest until Swarthmore College divests from the genocidal Zionist entity and drops all charges against our peers. Free Palestine and long live the student intifada.”
Inside, the students dressed like Hamas fighters, wrapping their faces with keffiyehs in a style coined by the group’s members to avoid being identified as terrorists.
SJP members left the building before the 11 pm deadline set by the college. Administrators told The Phoenix that they “do not expect to issue interim suspensions.”
BREAKING: Terror supporters at Swarthmore College have violently taken over the main building on campus.
They have vandalized the inside of the building and are refusing to leave. This is Swarthmore’s opportunity to stand up to these extremists and arrest them. pic.twitter.com/2OuGTVh3as
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) February 20, 2025
Occupying campus property to protest Israel and Zionism has become common across the US.
Thousands of students did so during the conclusion of the 2023-2024 academic year with so-called “Gaza Solidarity Encampments,” precipitating an epidemic of antisemitic hate crime assaults, property destruction, and hate speech which contributed to several university presidents losing their jobs.
At Swarthmore on Wednesday, however, security officials moved to lock down the building after the students captured it to prevent both SJP’s being joined by more students and receiving supplies such as food and water that would sustain and ultimately prolong the demonstration, according to The Phoenix.
But it was many hours before Swarthmore’s vice president of student affairs Stephanie Ives sent SJP a letter warning the group that its members were risking being placed on interim suspensions that would carry a ban from campus, as well as their losing “all academic privileges.”
By that time, the students had shouted slogans through bullhorns, attempted to break into offices that had been locked to keep them out, and pounded the doors of others that refused to admit them access.
Meanwhile, SJP collaborators reportedly circumvented security’s lockdown of the building to smuggle food inside.
Several students then grew impatient and attempted to end the lockdown themselves by raiding the building, and in doing so caused a physical altercation with security, whom they proceeded to pelt with expletives and other imprecations.
“What the f—k is your problem?” a female student, captured in video shared by The Phoenix, can be heard screaming at an official who used his body to block a protester from forcing his way inside. “B—ch! F—k you! Stop f—king touching people, bruh!”
In a letter to Swarthmore SJP, Ives said that the group’s activities, which it heavily promoted on social media, had drawn the attention of the local US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office.
“Your actions, and the promotion of them on social media, have triggered a range of responses from within and beyond the community, including local and federal law enforcement agencies,” she wrote.
“We have already identified several individuals involved in today’s actions. Those individuals, along with others we identify moving forward, will face interim suspension if the occupation does not end by 11 pm tonight.”
In a statement later issued to The Phoenix, Swarthmore College said, “The FBI contacted us based on the nature and volume of social media posts by Swarthmore SJP, along with other regional and national SJP and other accounts, calling for people from outside the campus community to come to Swarthmore and participate in the occupation.”
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