Philly police arrest UPenn Gaza camp agitators attempting to occupy campus building

On Friday, several Gaza camp agitators were arrested at the University of Pennsylvania after they broke in and attempted to occupy the school's Fisher-Bennett Hall. 

In a statement, a UPenn spokesperson said, "Earlier this evening, a group of individuals entered Fisher-Bennett Hall on Penn’s campus and attempted to occupy it." 

"Penn Police, with support from Philadelphia Police, escorted them out and secured the building, taking several individuals into custody. The situation remains active," they noted.  

In a post on Instagram, the group called "up.against.the.occupation" said it had taken over the building and renamed it, "Refaat Alareer Hall." The group also called for more protesters to "pull up to 34th and Walnut St immediately, and bring flags, pots, pans, noise makers, megaphones, and anything else you have to contribute to our collective safety!" 

Later, aerial footage by NBC10 showed more protesters outside banging on pots and pans and holding Palestinian flags out in front of a line of police officers. The outlet noted that a woman with a megaphone chanted, "We hold power," while the rest of the crowd repeated.  

According to the outlet, the attempted occupation was an escalation after the university cleared the school's Gaza camp protest a week ago. Earlier this month, protesters in the encampment gave out guides that detailed their plans for "escalating" the protest, including breaking into buildings, creating weapons, and providing first aid.  

One of the guides titled, "Flood the Gates: Escalate," told activists to not "hesitate to take more risk." It added, "Let repression breed more resistance. We will not disavow any actions taken to escalate the struggle, including militant direct actions."  

"Our notion of 'safety' in the imperial core is built on centuries of corpses, and this liberal framing of 'safety' prevents us from escalating and winning, which is our duty to Palestine and us all," it said.  

Protesters were demanding that UPenn divest itself from any organization that had ties to Israel.