Police officers arrested 25 protesters early Tuesday and ended the occupation of an administration building that forced a campus shutdown at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.
The university said in a statement that the 25 individuals faced a range of charges, including unlawful assembly, vandalism, conspiracy and assault of police officers, among other charges.
“What was occurring was not free expression or a protest,” the university said. “It was criminal activity, and there were serious concerns it would spread even further on campus.”
The protesters took over Siemens Hall on April 22 and renamed it “Intifada Hall.” They fought an early attempt by the police to remove them and later rejected increasingly strong entreaties from officials to leave the building. Siemens Hall includes the university president’s office, which protesters also occupied.
On Monday night, the campus police at the university, which is known as Cal Poly Humboldt, began trying to disperse the protesters, using loudspeakers to call for the roughly 150 people outside the building to leave and declaring the protest an “unlawful assembly.” The protesters chanted and sang, with some linking arms in front of the building.
Around 2:30 a.m., officers from various agencies in California moved in to arrest protesters and secure Siemens Hall and a second building, Nelson Hall East, that had been taken over.
After occupying Siemens Hall last week, protesters set up dozens of tents on lawns around it. In response, the university shut down its entire campus, which is more than 275 miles north of San Francisco. The university said a “hard closure” would remain in place through May 10, one day before commencement was scheduled on campus.
The protesters made several demands, including that the school disclose its investments in companies doing business in Israel, divest from companies profiting from military action in Gaza, cut ties with Israeli universities and drop charges against three students who were arrested at the start of the protests. They also want the university to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Cal Poly Humboldt leaders said on Friday that they were making “a good-faith effort to respond” to the demands. Hours later, they told the students occupying the buildings that they had a brief “opportunity to leave with a guarantee of no immediate arrest.” On Sunday night, the president’s team asked the students to “leave the campus peacefully now,” but this time with no offer of immunity.
