PORTLAND, Ore. — Seven people, including three Portland State University (PSU) students, were arrested after a pro-Palestinian protest on campus Thursday evening. The university released the new details on Friday, along with the name of a campus officer who was hospitalized.
A rally was planned at the Urban Plaza around 4 p.m. That particular event was peaceful, according to PSU.
Around 5 p.m., a crowd of protesters arrived at the Richard and Maurine Neuberger Center, where two people chained themselves to the building. PSU said Campus Public Safety and Portland Police Bureau officers responded and arrested the two people after they refused to leave.
Another group of protesters, according to PSU, were in the lower garage of the Richard and Maurine Neuberger Center. They too were arrested, though PSU did not state what they were doing. In total, seven people were arrested and among them were three current PSU students.
PSU President Ann Cudd said in a statement that people involved in the protest "experienced physical force" and Chief of Campus Police Willie Halliburton was hospitalized after "suffering a medical emergency."
According to court documents, one of the protesters arrested was Sarah Amani, aka Sarah Dean. When campus officers confronted protesters chained to the doors of the Richard and Maurine Neuberger Center, they ordered the protesters to leave or be arrested, prosecutors said in a probable cause affidavit related to Amani's case.
One campus officer said that Amani was leaning on her when she struck the officer in the face with her hand, breaking the officer's glasses. The officer reported that the strike left her with a headache "that lasted into the next day."
On-scene was Chief Halliburton, who ordered that Amani be arrested, the affidavit says. As other officers moved in to arrest her, Amani allegedly fought them — kicking Halliburton "near his stomach" during the struggle. Officers eventually took Amani into custody.
The university has not released any additional details surrounding what led to Halliburton's hospitalization, and it's unclear if it was related to Amani.
"This cannot continue, it is not a campus atmosphere that can sustain any of us at Portland State," Cudd said in the statement.
Since protesters occupied and were cleared from Millar Library earlier this month, Cudd said she has attended several meetings with student groups and community members with the goal of meeting the protesters' demands. The group is calling on the university to cut ties with Boeing, which has reportedly supplied military hardware to Israel. They are also demanding that PSU call for an immediate ceasefire, eliminate public safety officers and stop selling Israeli products on campus.
"We have made every effort to be transparent about PSU’s ties to Boeing: there are no direct investments and nothing to hide about the funding that we receive to support scholarships for minority STEM students," Cudd said on Friday.
PSU Vanguard, the university newspaper, reported that Boeing donated $150,000 to PSU to name a classroom and gives about $28,000 a year for scholarships.
A forum on Boeing ties is scheduled for June 5. Cudd said more details on that will be released.
In her statement, Cudd added that she continues to support protests and debate on campus, but condemned hate speech and said she will enforce rules that keep students, faculty and staff of all backgrounds safe.
"I also hope, like millions of us around the world, for an end to the killing and pain in Gaza," Cudd said.
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