About 30 pro-Palestinian students was arrested Monday night after they occupied a building at the University of Washington in Seattle, setting dumpsters on fire and creating a "dangerous" environment, university officials said.
The group, called Super UW, said on its Facebook page that it "launched an occupation of the new Boeing-funded engineering building" and was staging a protest over the aviation company's defense contracts and arms sales to Israel.
Super UW said it took the action to mark the anniversary of Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 were kidnapped — calling it a "heroic victory."
"About 30 individuals who occupied the building were arrested [on] charges of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit all three, will be referred to the King County Prosecutor’s Office," university spokesperson Victor Balta said in a statement.
The protest is a possible sign that this summer could mean a repeat of the widespread pro-Palestinian encampments, occupations and marches that took place on college campuses across the country last year.
Balta said university police and other law enforcement officers began clearing away crowds of supporters, many wearing black masks, outside the building at 10:30 p.m. Monday before police moved inside at 11 p.m.
The group created a "dangerous environment" in and around the building by blocking entrances by stacking furniture and setting two dumpsters on fire in the street outside, Balta said.
The university's statement also said it "strongly condemns this illegal building occupation" and an unspecified "antisemitic statement" a suspended student group made Monday. The statement said the group would "not be intimidated by this offensive and destructive behavior."
Seattle police referred questions to University of Washington police.
The newly opened 75,000-square-foot Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, which cost about $102 million and opened this spring, was partially funded by a $10 million donation from Boeing.
Super UW posted on Facebook just before 9 p.m. Monday: "SHOW UP TO THE IEB NOW!!! THE CROWD IS WHAT’S DETERRING THE POLICE FROM MOVING IN."
The group claimed that the university had struck a deal to create a "pipeline of students into the Boeing workforce" and to give the company's executives control over its curriculum. At the same time, it accused the university of being complicit in the "mass genocide of Palestinian people."
Greg Hyslop, Boeing's chief engineer and executive vice president of engineering, test and technology, announced the partnership, saying it would allow the company to "partner more closely with the university on cutting-edge technologies."
UW was the site of pro-Palestinian protests last year, when a three-week encampment ended when university management negotiated an end to the protest.
Protesters at Columbia University in New York had planned to start a new encampment there last month, but activists failed to show.
