Pro-Palestinian Protesters Occupy UW Campus Building, Demand Divestment From Boeing

“Pro-Palestinian protesters occupy UW campus building, demand divestment from Boeing”

SEATTLE — Professional-Palestinian college students on the College of Washington occupied the Interdisciplinary Engineering Constructing Monday night, renaming it the Shaban al-Dalou Constructing, in protest in opposition to the college’s ties to Boeing. About 30 pro-Palestinian activists had been taken into custody early Tuesday morning after setting a fireplace and coming into a constructing.

The group Tremendous UW demanded the college sever ties with Boeing as warfare continues in Gaza. Monday night time, there have been a minimum of a number of dozen folks chanting and listening to music outdoors the IEB, which sits proper throughout from The Hub within the coronary heart of campus.

PHOTOS: Professional-Palestinian protesters occupy UW campus constructing

Shortly after 10 p.m., protesters started burning trash from a dumpster used to dam one of many campus streets. Police donned gear and stepped in simply after 10:30 p.m. when the protest grew to become harmful and people concerned broke into the constructing, based on the UW. Officers sporting SWAT gear had been seen making an attempt to get the state of affairs beneath management.

Protesters who occupied the constructing had been arrested for trespassing, property destruction, disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit all three, based on the UW.

It was the identical time a 12 months earlier, activists took over the Quad at UW for 3 weeks with a pro-Palestinian encampment, demanding UW break ties with the aerospace firm and Israel. That so-called Liberated Zone was eliminated after the group got here to an settlement with the college and following concern over anti-Semitic graffiti.

“We’re hoping to remove the influence of Boeing and other manufacturing companies from our educational space, period, and we’re hoping to expose the repressive tactics of the university,” Tremendous UW Spokesperson Eric Horford informed KOMO Information.

A banner hung within the second-floor window because the group sought to re-name the constructing after a teenage engineering scholar killed by an airstrike in Gaza.

A separate group wearing all black stacked furnishings to create a blockade in entrance of the constructing earlier than toppling dumpsters to dam off close by Jefferson Street, then confronted a safety officer till he drove away.

As Tremendous UW introduced in water, coolers, and chairs, they mentioned they’d not go away till the college met its listing of calls for:

Boeing out of the IEB. Repurpose the constructing right into a community-controlled house with pro-people training.
Boeing out of UW. Cease receiving any and all donations from Boeing. Return any current donations and monetary investments, and eradicate all different materials ties to Boeing. Prohibit Boeing executives and staff from educating lessons or having any affect over curriculum.
Finish the expulsion, suspension, and all repression and focused assault of pro-Palestine activism and activists, particularly offering protections for our fellow college students being focused by the federal authorities for his or her immigration standing.

“We are here to negotiate with the university, and we are hoping they’ll hear us and speak with us,” Horford mentioned.

On social media Monday night time, the UW Jewish Alumni Affiliation expressed disappointment that college management failed to stop one other demonstration.

“We are taking this building amidst the current and renewed wave of the student Intifada, following the uprising of student action for Palestine after the heroic victory of Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7th, which shattered the illusion of zionist-imperialist domination and brought Palestine to the forefront for all justice-loving people of the world,” wrote the protesters within the manifesto.

RELATED: College of Washington maintains Boeing ties regardless of pro-Palestinian campus protests

The manifesto continued to notice they consider the UW administration “prioritizes their ability to rake in blood money over the demands of their students and workers.”

UW offered the next assertion in response to a KOMO Information inquiry:

“UW police are on-site at the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, which was occupied by a few dozen individuals starting just before the building closed at 5 p.m. The trespassers are mostly covering their faces and stacking building furniture near entryways. To the best of our knowledge, everyone connected to the UW who does not want to be inside the building has left. Individuals remaining in the building are trespassing and will face legal and student conduct actions. Since this is an ongoing police matter, for security reasons we have no additional information to share at this time.”

ALSO SEE: Professional-Palestinian protesters demand UW divest from Israel at Board of Regents assembly

“This March, after months of delays, the Board of Regents completely rejected the formation of an Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI), the first step in the official process to initiate divestment,” wrote the protesters. “This is a complete refusal to even investigate UW’s ties to companies complicit in zionist genocide and occupation.”

The occupation of the IEB comes over a 12 months after pro-Palestine protesters arrange an encampment within the campus’s quad.

The professional-Palestinian protesters’ requires motion come as Boeing has donated greater than $100 million to the College of Washington within the final century. Because of this, hundreds of UW graduates have discovered work at Boeing, significantly in engineering positions.

In 2022, Boeing additionally gave $10 million towards a brand new interdisciplinary engineering constructing on the UW campus, the identical location that college students occupied on Could 5.

The protesters wrote that “Palestine teaches us that true power comes not from the state but from the people themselves and that no amount of money, brutality, or technological advancement can destroy a true people’s movement.”

The protesters ended their manifesto with a name to motion, urging college students, academics and staff to take motion alongside the folks of Palestine.

We name on our fellow UW college students, academics, staff, and youth to take motion with us alongside the folks of Palestine and their courageous resistance. Right here within the heart of the US struggle machine, our college training is geared to supply the subsequent directors of the empire. However folks of conscience in all places are standing up! We refuse to be engineers of genocide. Our function should be to hinder the US empire – to cease the circulation of bombs and ease the battle of these combating for liberation in Palestine and around the globe.

UW campus police contacted the Seattle Police Division for “mutual aid assistance,” based on the SPD.

The SPD continued to notice that their job drive was mobilized, which is a routine process. No SWAT groups had been despatched, based on the SPD.

Shortly after 10 p.m., protesters started burning trash that was inside a dumpster that was used to dam one of many campus streets. Round 10:30 p.m., legislation enforcement from a number of companies started clearing the realm outdoors the constructing earlier than shifting into the constructing to clear it at 11 p.m., based on a UW spokesperson.

VOTE: Ought to pro-Palestinian protesters who commit property crimes be prosecuted?

“About 30 individuals who occupied the building were arrested and charges of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit all three, will be referred to the King County Prosecutor’s Office. Any students identified as being involved will also be referred to the Student Conduct Office,” the UW mentioned in a press release.