Georgetown University Police Department officers recently had to forcibly remove anti-Israel protesters from a campus building during a demonstration.
The university told The Georgetown Voice that protesters blocked access to Healy Hall on Friday and “did not respond to multiple directives from officials to stop disrupting university business.”
“After numerous directives from university officials during which the protesters refused to identify themselves, the Georgetown University Police Department at the direction of university officials removed the disruptive protesters from Healy Hall,” an official told the outlet.
Around 15 student protesters were chanting inside the building before they were forcibly removed.
“Georgetown University strongly condemns antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, and hatred of any kind in our community,” the university also stated, according to Fox 5.
Healy Hall, which is an administrative building, is recognized by the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
In an Instagram post on Saturday, Georgetown’s pro-Palestine groups like the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter said the activists were “standing up against state and campus repression.” The group pledged to continue to “speak out” for “Palestine in the face of state repression.”
“THE MORE YOU TRY TO SILENCE US, THE LOUDER WE WILL BE!” the post concluded.
Before the protest, the same coalition of groups advertised the demonstration in another Instagram post.
“STUDENTS LAUNCH SIT-IN AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY!” the post stated. “JOIN THE POPULAR UNIVERSITY AND FIGHT BACK AGAINST CAMPUS REPRESSION!”
The protest comes one month after the federal government’s efforts to deport a Georgetown researcher who has been accused of advancing “Hamas propaganda.”
Badar Khan Suri was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security, which asserted that he had “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior adviser to Hamas.”
Georgetown additionally admitted a student whose father is a member of Hamas’ foreign ministry. The student, Mapheze Saleh, “worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza,” according to Georgetown’s website.
Campus Reform has contacted Georgetown University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
