Police in California arrested a group of students at Pomona College this week after they stormed an administration building and refused to leave the president’s office.
According to reports, eighteen students were charged with misdemeanor trespassing and another with obstruction of justice after an anti-Israel demonstration spiraled out of control Friday afternoon.
College president Gabrielle Starr said the students charged, as well as dozens of others who took part in the protest, could face suspension.
“Campus Safety reported that approximately 100-150 protesters were outside the President’s Office and another 30-40 protesters had stormed inside the building and taken over the President’s Office,” the Pomona Police Department said in a statement. “Communication was immediately established by School Administration with the protesters, but they refused to leave the building.”
The Claremont chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine called for Starr to resignate over the arrests.
“As a supposed representative of your institution, your conduct has been fascistic in nature and absolutely reprehensible. Should you have any shame for your conduct, you will resign, drop the charges made on students, and revoke their suspensions immediately. Following these acts in this order, students and the public demand for your immediate resignation as president of this institution,” the chapter said.
The protesters gathered to voice concern over the removal of a 32-foot-long “apartheid wall” meant to represent “illegal Israeli Occupation.”
The students “proceeded to verbally harass staff, even using a sickening, anti-black racial slur in addressing an administrator. This is part of an escalating series of incidents on our campus, which has included persistent harassment of visitors for admission tours,” Starr said.