At least five employees have been injured recently by anti-Israel protesters in two separate demonstrations at Pomona and Harvey Mudd colleges
Pandemonium overtook Pomona College on Monday as a large contingent of anti-Israel protesters took over a campus building, forced some classes to shut down or relocate, and prompted some students to flee through open windows, according to news reports.
One employee was injured, and the “occupied” building, Carnegie Hall, was thrashed with graffiti and other destruction of property by the pro-Palestinian student activists who occupied the building on Oct. 7 — the anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel, the Claremont Courier and the Claremont Independent reported.
Pomona administrators pledged to suspend or expel students involved in the melee in an email fired off to the campus community Monday evening, the Independent reported. The memo stated officials are working to identify the masked-up activists, some of whom came from other nearby campuses as part the protest, which began as a walkout.
Pomona is an elite, private college in Southern California and a member of the Claremont College Consortium along with Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd and Claremont McKenna colleges.
“This is a community of learning, and when individuals violate the rights of others to learn, or to teach, or simply to do their jobs, there are consequences,” the memo stated.
Protesters obstructed entrances, didn’t allow entrance and egress, zip-tied doors, graffitied the building, classrooms and offices and destroyed AV equipment, the administrators’ memo stated, adding the damage was so extensive the building must remain closed and classes relocated.
One employee was injured in the building takeover. The Independent reported:
Students then marched south to Carnegie Hall, flooding in through the front entrance. Two administrators briefly attempted to block the doors and ID scanner, but were overwhelmed by the mass of protesters. One Campus Safety official was injured as the students poured in, rolling her ankle. Organizers announced over megaphones that “Today this is a People’s University for Palestine,” and that demonstrators would be leaving at 4:00 P.M.
Inside, students chanted while organizers handed out pamphlets. Lead organizers commandeered multiple classrooms to lead “teach-in” sessions for participants.
A list of approved chants obtained by the Independent includes “Intifada intifada, LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA,” “Hey hey ho ho! iSRAEL [sic] HAS GOT TO GO,” and We don’t want two states, WE WANT ‘48!”
Ongoing classes were disrupted by the loud chanting from the hallways. One professor told their class, “We can’t really have class right now, you are welcome to leave.” A Pomona student who requested anonymity attempted to leave the classroom, but “we couldn’t leave because they were in the building blocking the doors and everything. I wasn’t going to walk through the middle of it… I wouldn’t have felt very safe walking through hundreds of people yelling things that [I] especially as a Jewish student don’t align with or feel safe around.”
Video shows several students exiting through open windows on the second floor, walking along a narrow piece of siding to exit the building.
A picture in the Claremont Courier also shows students escaping the building through a window as protesters blocked the doors.
Monday’s protest followed a similar aggressive anti-Israel demonstration at Harvey Mudd in late September in which four employees were injured, according to campus officials.
“We are very sad to report that four HMC staff members were physically harmed during protest activity that turned unpeaceful,” the memo stated.
The target of that action was a campus job fair that included representation from defense contractors.
“Close to the scheduled start of the fair at 11:00 am, a group of around 40 masked protestors arrived at the event. Initially, they remained in a grassy area across from the entrance, chanting and holding large signs as students entered,” the Independent reported.
“…After approximately 45 minutes, the protestors converged on the entrance, and pushed aside the tables and fencing. According to [President Harriet] Nembhard, HMC staff members were injured when the tables were pushed into their abdomens. One became pinned by a table, resulting in bruises.”
The Independent added:
“Campus Safety officers briefly tried to prevent the protestors from passing through, and video shows Campus safety staff, as well as contracted security guards, pushing back the protestors before they were forced their way through. Once past the check-in table, the protesters attempted to enter the building, but the doors had been locked. Some also jumped onto the registration tables, splashing paint on computers and the patio.”
A source at the Claremont College Consortium told The College Fix that feckless administrators are partially to blame for the chaos: “Nothing will change at Pomona or the other Claremont Colleges until they start suspending students for this behavior. Thus far, they have not suspended or expelled any students and this pattern keeps repeating.”
In mid-September, several dozen pro-Palestinian protesters at Pomona College converged at President Gabi Starr’s home around midnight and screamed like banshees for several minutes before shouting a series of chants and slogans aimed at the administrator.
MORE: Police in riot gear arrest 20 pro-Palestinian protesters who stormed college president’s office
IMAGE: via Claremont Independent
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