Nineteen students from Pomona College in Claremont, California, were arrested following a pro-Palestinian protest that involved occupying an administrative building on campus.
The pro-Palestinian students were protesting the removal of artwork depicting an “apartheid wall,” according to a report by the Guardian.
Eighteen students were arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing, and one student was arrested for obstruction of justice, the Claremont Police Department said.
The group Pomona Divest from Apartheid had staged a sit-in with over 150 students on April 5, according to a report by the San Bernardino Sun.
The students reportedly chanted, “Stop the killing, stop the slaughter, Gaza has no food or water!” and “Up, up with liberation. Down, down with occupation!”
Pomona College President Gabi Starr said in an open letter that students who participated in the protest “are subject to immediate suspension.”
“Any participants in today’s events on the SCC lawn or in Alexander Hall, who turn out to be Pomona students, are subject to immediate suspension,” Starr wrote. “Students from the other Claremont Colleges will be banned from Pomona’s campus and subject to discipline on their own campuses.”
“All individual participants not part of the Claremont Colleges community are hereby banned from campus immediately,” Starr added.
The college president also said that protestors refused to identify themselves and issued an “anti-black racial slur” while talking to an administrator.
“A group of individuals refused to identify themselves to Campus Safety and Student Affairs staff, and proceeded to verbally harass staff, even using a sickening, anti-black racial slur in addressing an administrator,” Starr said.
“For the past week, masked individuals who are part of a protest have occupied a portion of the Smith Campus Center (SCC) lawn,” Starr added. “This occupation was against our policies, but as we have expressed in the past, we work with students who are exercising their right to protest unless that protest impedes on the rights of others.”
“In addition, we require all individuals on campus to identify themselves upon request by campus administrators or Campus Safety,” Starr said. “This is imperative for the safety of our community, especially when these individuals are masked.”
The incident at Pomona College is just the latest example of campus disruption via pro-Palestinian student protestors.
As Breitbart News reported, three Vanderbilt University students have been expelled following a pro-Palestinian protest on campus that resulted in several arrests last month.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
