Officers from the Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh and other police departments responded Sunday night to a demonstration that drew approximately 200 protesters to the Pitt campus in Oakland, where some of them erected barricades near the Cathedral of Learning and announced intentions to reestablish a "Palestine Solidarity Encampment" on the lawn of the campus landmark.
Protesters erected tents and chanted while massing behind barriers they made of wood and wire fencing. An organization identifying itself as Pitt Divest released a statement saying the protesters include Pitt "students, faculty, staff and community members," and adding: "Today the campus is reclaimed in the name of the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea."
"We unreservedly and wholeheartedly stand with the people of Palestine in their resistance to the Zionist regime," the group said in its statement, which also includes two lists of demands — one regarding university policies and partnerships and calling for the university to divest itself from investments in companies that it said "participate in and profit from" ties with Israel or support Israel in its war with Hamas. The other list calls for disarming Pitt Police and other actions regarding the university police department.
"The encampment has been reestablished on university property to send a clear message to Chancellor Joan Gabel, Board of Trustees Chair Louis R. Cestello, Chief Investment Officer Jeffer Choudhry and the rest of senior administration and the board," the statement said.
University of Pittsburgh Police arrested one person on-site, according to a statement from the university. "The person arrested was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and obstruction, and is not affiliated with the University.”
"Due to the number of protesters present, University of Pittsburgh Police are working with the City of Pittsburgh Police, Allegheny County Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Carnegie Mellon University and Carlow University," the statement read.
On Monday Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said city police forces were monitoring the situation but deferring to university police. He said the city’s priority is to keep all people in Pittsburgh safe. “We will continue to monitor the situation and working towards a peaceful outcome for everyone,” Gainey said. Gainey also both recognized the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and called on community to support the local Jewish community.
In an emergency alert, Pitt officials said the campus remained open but that the Cathedral and nearby William Pitt Union were closed. The alert urged passersby and motorists to avoid the vicinity of Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard, noting the possibility of traffic delays. As the protest stretched into the evening, police prohibited anyone from entering the encampment on the Cathedral lawn.
The demonstration began Sunday afternoon as two pro-Palestinian protests in Oakland. The first started at 4:30 p.m. in front of the Christopher Columbus monument in Schenley Park. The other, focused on health care workers in Gaza, started at 5 p.m. on the green space beside the Boulevard of the Allies and Zulema Street, several blocks from campus.
At roughly 5:30 p.m., more than 100 protesters from the monument and around 70 others from the Boulevard of the Allies began marching to the Cathedral of Learning, where they stormed the Cathedral lawn and rapidly constructed a makeshift barricade using wooden planks and chain link fencing.
By the time they completed construction an hour later, the protest had drawn a few hundred students and community members to what the Pittsburgh Palestine Coalition referred to as the reestablished Palestine Solidarity Encampment. By nightfall, approximately 75 people remained inside the encampment, while about 60 others remained outside.
Approximately 30 to 40 police officers monitored the scene throughout the evening. At 9 p.m., they refused to allow anyone else to approach the encampment. At 9:30, they erected their own barricade around the perimeter of the lawn.
Protesters said they will not leave until they speak directly with Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel about the university's investments and their demands for disclosure about university finances are met.
“We have not been able to reach [Gabel] any other way. She has been completely unresponsive,” said Camryn Gray, a protest participant.
The new encampment represents “the power of the people," Gray added.
“The last encampment and this encampment have been a collection of people from the community and the schools all coming together,” they said. “This is what people want. The University of Pittsburgh affects every single person who lives in Pittsburgh, not just the students.”
The demonstration came about a month after an earlier protest in April that lasted through the week of Pitt's graduation observances. That protest began as a sit-in outside of the Cathedral of Learning before organizers agreed to move the encampment to the city-owned parklet between the Hillman Library and the Carnegie Museum complex.
As they did on Sunday, protesters in April then called on university officials to disclose any investments in companies or institutions that have supported Israel in its war with Hamas, and to divest any holdings tied to Israel. (Pitt is among a group of large universities whose investments can be opaque.)
Campus protests in other cities have drawn national attention in recent weeks as conflict flared up between protesters, university officials and law enforcement. But arrests at Pitt in April were limited to an incident in which Pitt Police took two protesters into custody during a demonstration. Both were charged with misdemeanor trespassing: Pitt officials later confirmed that one was a student.
