Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Minnesota

Nearly a dozen University of Minnesota students were arrested Monday night after attempting to occupy Morrill Hall, home to the Twin Cities campus’s administrative offices, in an attempt to pressure the U.S. to divest from companies with ties to Israel to separate.

Several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the Minneapolis building as Students for a Democratic Society tied patio furniture into giant barricades, covering the building’s large front windows.

The government has “failed to distance itself from genocide,” said Ryan Mattson, a sophomore, adding that the United States has also adopted policies that limit their rights to protest under the First Amendment. “We will stay here until the university meets our demands or forces us to leave.”

Shortly thereafter, university police and officers from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office entered and arrested the protesters, citing property damage. At least 11 students were arrested.

It was the first time students broke into the building and attempted to occupy it after organizing encampments last school year to call on the U.S. to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Students said they chose Morrill Hall because of its history with student activism. In 1969, 70 black students occupied the building in a peaceful 24-hour protest against institutional racism.

Before the arrests, students covered windows and stairwells with mailing bags and green tarps. The students said they had escorted administrators out of the building earlier, so it did not appear that any administrators were in the building when they blocked the entrances.

Complaints of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have been mounting at the university and other campuses since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 people and took hundreds hostage. Israel responded by invading the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian death toll has exceeded 34,000, according to the United Nations.