Students climb out of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics second-story window during a pro-Palestinian protest on Friday.
Ellery Jones/Sun-Times
A group of pro-Palestinian protesters occupied the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago on Friday afternoon, demanding the university divest from Israel.
Around 5 p.m., a large group of protesters had surrounded the building as others occupied the building. Shortly after that, a group of University of Chicago police officers, equipped with riot shields, burst into the building and scuffled with protesters.
One was seen pushing protesters away from the front door of the building, which is located on South Woodlawn Avenue near 57th Street. Some protesters were later seen climbing out of a second-story window, followed by police.
Chicago Police Department officers were also on the scene.
Police had cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment on the university’s Main Quadrangle early in the morning last Tuesday. On Friday afternoon, organizers had set up tents on the lawn in front of the Institute’s building.
University of Chicago spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan said a group of masked protesters entered the building, attempted to bar the entrance, damaged University property and ignored directives from campus police to clear the way.
“The University of Chicago is fundamentally committed to upholding the rights of protesters to express a wide range of views,” McSwiggan said in a statement. “At the same time, University policies make it clear that protests cannot jeopardize public safety, disrupt the University’s operations, or involve the destruction of property.”
A banner carried by protesters outside the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago on Friday.
By late afternoon, a crowd of several hundred had gathered around the building, including a handful who draped themselves in the Israeli flag.
Protesters have raised banners and pinned a Palestinian flag to the second floor of the building. A spray-painted banner, hanging on the building’s porch, listed demands including “free Palestine” and “abolish the university.”
For awhile, police tried to keep the crowd off the street to allow traffic to continue to pass. Eventually, however, Woodlawn Avenue was closed to vehicles by police.
On Instagram, UChicago United, which took part in organizing the encampment, declared the Institute of Politics the “Liberated Cashbah of Basel Al-Araj” for the Palestinian activist and writer who died in a gunfight with Israeli police in a raid in 2017.
I'm at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, where police have entered the building after protestors took it over. pic.twitter.com/GnikQBf2xV