2 arrests made, encampments taken down at Princeton following pro-Palestinian protests on college campus

Princeton University is the latest local university to see pro-Palestinian student protesters erect tents on campus as a national movement grips the nation and catalyzes debate over the war in Gaza, free speech on college campuses and American support for Israel.

Calling it a “Gaza Solidarity encampment,” the group said in a news release that tents were set up about 7 a.m. Thursday at McCosh Courtyard on the Ivy League University’s campus.

“The students of Princeton University are rising up alongside campuses across the country to show university leadership and trustees to demand no rest until divest,” the group said.

But Princeton, in a statement, said the tents are already gone, taken down voluntarily by protesters after warnings from the university’s Department of Public Safety. Two graduate students were arrested for trespassing, the university said.

The move comes as students opposed to Israeli military actions in Gaza and American support for Israel stagecampus protests at campuses across the nation, with arrests mounting. Encampments were up on at least 30 campuses nationwide as of Wednesday, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, which is tracking the movement.

Meanwhile, more than 100 protesters gathered at City Hall around 2 p.m. as part of a student-led demonstration against the war in Gaza.The crowd plans to march a two-mile route through Center City and likely head toward University City, where other actions are planned this afternoon around the campus hub.

The rally took to the streets around 2:40 p.m., with people shaking noise-makers and chanting alternately between English and Arabic. In what’s now become a chorus at pro-Palestinian rallies, the crowd focused its message against President Joe Biden and called on leaders to end the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

”Gaza Gaza don’t you cry, we will never let you die!”

Gov. Josh Shapiro in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, seemed poised to step into the spotlight again if protests become disruptive on Pennsylvania campuses. And potentially with force.

“If the universities in accordance with their policies can’t guarantee the safety and security and well-being of the students, then I think it is incumbent upon a local mayor or local governor or local town councilor, whoever is the local leadership there, to step in and enforce the law,” Shapiro told Politico.

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