Portland State protesters 'delusional,' mayor says; university reopens after 30 demonstrators arrested

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Friday, May 03, 2024

Protesters deface a car after a counter-protester drove toward the crowd gathered at the Portland State University campus, exited their vehicle and deployed mace on May 2, 2024, in Portland, Oregon. Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza. | Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images

Police have arrested 30 people related to anti-Israel protests at Portland State University in Oregon, where authorities also detained a driver who accelerated toward a crowd of demonstrators and allegedly sprayed them with mace or pepper spray.

Anti-Israel encampments protesting the ongoing war in Gaza and demanding that universities cease support of the Jewish state have sprung up at college campuses throughout the country. Demonstrators at PSU had occupied the campus library building since Monday before the Portland police intervened.

PSU did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment, but on Friday, the university announced the campus had reopened to access card holders. At the time of this report, the university did not disclose when the campus buildings would be open to those without access cards.

According to NBC affiliate KGW-8, the Portland Police Bureau said it had made 30 arrests related to anti-Israel protests on PSU’s campus. The outlet initially reported that police arrested 12 protesters for blocking the campus library, only four of whom were PSU students.

In its updated report, KGW-8 noted that police arrested at least seven additional protesters after a group of anti-Israel demonstrators attempted to re-enter the campus library building. PSU Campus Safety also arrested one protester, according to KGW-8.

"We can now confirm that trespassers did pull down the fence and broke back into the library. Police officers moved back into the library and made arrests. Arrests have also been made for people refusing to leave the park block at the library," Portland police posted on X Thursday night.

Portland police are also searching for 18 people who fled the library when officers showed up to clear the building Thursday morning, KGW-8 added. As the police cleared the building, PSU students and other anti-Israel protesters remained near the police perimeter around the library.

According to KGW-8, several protestors occupying the building carried improvised shields, and one demonstrator attempted to assault a police officer and was arrested. Police made “additional arrests” after several demonstrators attempted to block the van transporting those who were arrested.

PPB requested assistance from the Oregon State Police Mobile Response Team to push back the demonstrators blocking the van from leaving, but some still followed the vehicle onto I-405.

KGW-8 reported that the situation “escalated” around 3 p.m. local time after a police officer was hit with a water bottle thrown by one of the protesters. Authorities responded by deploying a sound truck to clear the South Park Blocks and Southwest Hall Street area.

Around the time that this was happening, the driver of a Toyota sedan drove near the crowd and sprayed the anti-Israel protestors with a substance that had been reported as either mace or pepper spray. Police located the man after he abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot. He was transported to the hospital on a mental health hold.

“According to PPB, seven officers were injured throughout the day,” KGW-8 reported. “Only one officer needed to be taken to the hospital with a knee injury.”

On Thursday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler thanked the officers for the “safe and effective” manner in which they cleared the campus library, and thanked the Oregon State Police for assisting. The mayor also referenced a protest march on Wednesday night that resulted in demonstrators smashing several businesses’ windows. Wheeler vowed that protesters who destroy property would face consequences.

"I, for the life of me, do not understand how terrorizing local business operators can possibly impact events in the Middle East," Wheeler said. "If you believe that by damaging a business — which frankly harms the frontline employees who work in those businesses, and we've had reports that they were frightened, they were traumatized — if you believe damaging those businesses or trashing a library on a university campus will impact events in the Middle East, then you are delusional."

The Associated Press reported Thursday that more than 2,000 people have been arrested over the last two weeks at universities throughout the country.

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman