Pro-Palestinian demonstrators arrested after occupying Stanford president’s office

STANFORD, California — Stanford University said 13 people were arrested as law enforcement officers removed pro-Palestinian protesters who had occupied a campus building early Wednesday that houses the university’s president and provost offices. The school said there was extensive damage inside and outside the building.

The takeover began near sunrise, on the last day of classes of the spring quarter. Some demonstrators barricaded themselves inside, while others locked arms outside. The Stanford Journal reported. The group sang “Palestine will be free, we will liberate Palestine.”

The student newspaper said one of the reporters was among those arrested.

Within about two hours, officers had entered the building and began taking people into custody.

“Police have arrested 13 individuals and the building has been evacuated,” university spokesperson Dee Mostofi said in an email to The Associated Press.

“There is extensive damage to the interior and exterior of the building,” Mostofi said. “No other campus activities are affected at this time.”

Stanford is among colleges and universities across the country where campus protests have taken place to demand that their schools secede from companies that are moving forward. Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and in some cases from Israel itself.

Columbia University agreed to take additional steps to make students feel safe on campus, as part of a settlement reached with a Jewish student on Tuesday.