Pro-Palestinian protesters at Drexel clear out without incident as university calls on police

An encampment of Pro-Palestinian protesters on Drexel University's campus cleared out early Thursday as Philadelphia and campus police assembled to move in to remove the group.

Starting before daybreak, the protesters started to clean up items and quickly walked away with belongings.

The peaceful end to the encampment came after days of Drexel's president calling for the protesters to leave.

Léelo en español aquí

The encampment started Saturday with the Drexel Palestine Coalition calling for divestment in Israel, a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas War in Gaza, the elimination of Drexel's Hillel and Chabad chapters and firing of certain faculty members.

"This morning, after thoughtful planning in consultation with Chief Mel Singleton and in collaboration with the City of Philadelphia, I made the decision to have Drexel Police and Public Safety officers join with the Philadelphia Police to clear the demonstration encampment on Korman Quad as peacefully as possible," Drexel President John Fry wrote to the Drexel community.

"While Drexel University is committed to protecting the right of its community members to assemble peacefully and express their views, I have the responsibility and authority to regulate campus gatherings in order to ensure everyone’s safety and well-being and to fulfill our mission to educate our students.  

"An unauthorized encampment that involves large numbers of people unaffiliated with Drexel trespassing on our campus is illegal. The language and chants coming from this demonstration, underscored by protestors’ repugnant 'demands,' must now come to an end. Moreover, our Public Safety personnel have been diverted from their work to serve and protect our entire Drexel community. That is unacceptable."

Around 5 a.m. people could be seen walking with bags away from the encampment.

"Seemingly without any pushback whatsoever, over the course of about 15 to 20 minutes, the campers packed up their belongings -- for the most part -- and left by their own free will," Philadelphia Police Sgt. Eric Gripp told reports just before 6 a.m. "That's exactly what we're looking for."

"Obviously it's very important to protect people's First Amendment rights, but as Drexel pointed out this is private property, they made this decision to clear this encampment, that they wanted this area clear," Gripp said.

No arrests were reported and protesters didn't immediately comment.

The cleanup of what was left behind appeared to be underway by 6:30 a.m. as crews could be seen sorting through items and throwing some things away.

Drexel's campus was on lockdown, with classes being held virtually as police kept watch over the demonstration on the school's Korman Quad on Monday. Many Drexel employees were told to work from home.

The encampment had persisted despite Fry's threat earlier this week to have the encampment cleared. Fry said Tuesday that classes would be held virtually for a third day on Wednesday after administrators tried to open a line of communication to the protesters but were rebuffed. News outlets reported that the university announced Wednesday night that the campus would return to normal operations Thursday.

In his statement early Thursday, Fry said previous requests for protesters to disperse had been ignored, but he was asking Drexel affiliates to leave the encampment so police could “escort any remaining trespassers off our campus.”

The Drexel protesters’ demands ranged from the university administration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and divesting from companies that do business with Israel, to abolition of the Drexel police department and termination of the school’s chapter of Hillel, the Jewish campus organization, and another Jewish campus group, Chabad.

A wave of pro-Palestinian tent encampments on campuses has led to over 3,000 arrests nationwide.

On Thursday, the leaders of Northwestern University and Rutgers University are expected to testify at a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing about concessions they gave to pro-Palestinian protesters to end demonstrations on their campus. The chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, also was scheduled to appear at the latest in a series of hearings looking into how colleges have responded to the protests and allegations of antisemitism.

The latest Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostage. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, while Israel’s military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.