Cal Poly Humboldt Campus Shuts Down After Pro-Palestine Protesters Barricade Themselves in Building

Pro-Palestinian activist protest outside Columbia University in New York City on April 20, 2024. Photo by Leonardo Munoz / AFP

Cal Poly Humboldt shut down its campus April 22 after pro-Palestine protesters barricaded themselves inside a building, which led to the arrest of three students.

Several dozen demonstrators gathered and barricaded themselves inside Siemens Hall that evening in protest over the Israel-Hamas war.

Protesters inside the building set up tents, while others also gathered outside the building, displaying a banner that read “stop the genocide” and chanting, “Free Palestine!”

They are calling for a ceasefire in the war, which began Oct. 7 with Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people and the taking of 253 hostages.

Since then, Israeli strikes have killed approximately 33,600 Palestinians and injured more than 76,200, Palestine’s Ministry of Health reported earlier this month. Some hostages have been released, but at least 32 have been reportedly killed in captivity.

In an Instagram post, the student group Humboldt for Palestine wrote a list of demands, including for the university to disclose and cut ties with “Zionist” and Israeli universities, to drop all “charges and attacks on student organizers,” to call for an immediate ceasefire and end to the occupation of Palestine.

On Monday night, several police officers attempting to get inside the building clashed with protesters, who set up a barricade of chairs and classroom furniture and pushed the officers out of the building with the force of the crowd.

A video of the encounter, posted on Facebook, shows protesters pushing the officers out of the building and striking them with chairs, while the officers, donned in riot gear, used shields and riot sticks on the crowd.

At 8:30 p.m. university officials announced the shutdown of the campus through April 24 and later indicated in-person classes would be remote where possible.

“The campus community is advised to avoid the area of the building, as it is a dangerous and volatile situation,” the university said in its first announcement, adding that it’s “deeply concerned about the safety of the protesters who have barricaded themselves inside the building.”

The school is just one across the country where protests have occurred, including most recently on the campuses of Columbia University in New York City and Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut.