Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters blocking University of Minnesota administrative offices

About a dozen protesters were arrested Monday night after barricading the University of Minnesota’s Morrill Hall, which holds the Twin Cities campus’ administrative offices, to push the U to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the Minneapolis building as Students for a Democratic Society tied up patio furniture into giant barricades, covering the building’s large front windows.

The administration has “failed to divest from genocide,” said Ryan Mattson, a sophomore, adding that the U has also passed policies restricting their First Amendment rights to protest. “We will stay here until the university meets our demands or makes us leave.”

According to a university statement Monday night, protesters inside the building spray painted security camera lenses, broke windows and barricaded the building’s entrances. Some staff were not able to exit “for an extended period of time.” Shortly after, university police and Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested protesters. At least 11 students were arrested.

It was the first time students have broken into and attempted to occupy the building after organizing encampments last school year to call on the U to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

The students said they chose Morrill Hall because of its history with student activism. In 1969, 70 Black students occupied the building in a peaceful 24-hour protest of institutional racism.

Before the arrests, students covered windows and staircases with mailers and green tarps. Students said they escorted administrators out of the building earlier so it didn’t appear any employees were in the building when the entrances were blocked.

Complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia have risen at the U and other college campuses since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 people and resulted in hundreds being taken hostage. Israel responded by invading the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 40,000, according to statistics released by the United Nations.

In August, U regents declined pro-Palestinian activists’ calls, adopting a policy that says they want endowment investments to be based primarily on financial concerns rather than social and political ones. U leaders have also met with members of Jewish student organizations, who presented their own list of requests, including a call for stronger responses to bias and discrimination complaints.