Police arrested nine protestors as it broke up a four-day pro-Palestinian encampment on Swarthmore College’s campus Saturday morning – a “terribly difficult” decision the school&#…
nypost.com
Police arrested nine protestors, including seven agitators, while breaking up a pro-Palestinian encampment on Swarthmore College’s campus in an ugly scene Saturday — a “terribly difficult” decision the school’s president says was in part prompted by FBI scrutiny.
One current and one former student of the private liberal arts school in the suburbs of Philadelphia were arrested, while the seven others were activists who were not affiliated with the college.
“The promotion of the protest on social media drew the attention of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, who urged us to bring the encampment to an end as quickly as possible,” Swarthmore President Valerie Smith said in a statement.
Smith said members of a suspended student organization repeatedly invited non-students to join the encampment through Instagram, and unknown individuals began to arrive on campus soon after.
“Many, if not all, of the protestors — both students and non-students — were fully masked and tried to remain unidentifiable,” Smith added.
Swarthmore is one of 60 colleges at risk of having federal funding taken away over what the US Department of Education has said is antisemitic discrimination and harassment on campus.