logo
Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after occupying University of Washington building

Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after occupying University of Washington building

Independent07-05-2025

Police arrested about 30 pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied a University of Washington engineering building and demanded the school break ties with Boeing.
Students from the group Super UW moved into the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building in Seattle on Monday evening and unofficially renamed it after Shaban al-Dalou, a teenage engineering student who was killed along with his mother after an Israeli airstrike caused an inferno outside of a Gaza hospital.
The students demanded that the university sever all ties with Boeing, including returning any Boeing donations and barring the company's employees from teaching at or otherwise influencing the school.
Boeing has donated over $100 million to UW since 1917, including $10 million for the engineering building, The Seattle Times reported. Because of Boeing's donation, the aviation manufacturer was granted naming rights for the building's second level.
Boeing is a key supplier to the Israeli Defense Forces, and the country has received more military aid from the U.S. than any other country since World War II.
'We're hoping to remove the influence of Boeing and other manufacturing companies from our educational space, period, and we're hoping to expose the repressive tactics of the university,' Super UW spokesperson Eric Horford told KOMO News.
People dressed in black blocked the front of the building with furniture and used dumpsters to block a nearby road, university officials said.
UW police worked with Seattle police to clear the building at around 10:30 p.m., UW spokesperson Victor Balta said in a statement. The people were taken into custody on charges of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct, he said. Their cases have been referred to the King County prosecutors.
Any students identified will be referred to the Student Conduct Office, Balta said.
The U.S. Department of Education said in a statement Tuesday that the incident will be investigated.
'The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism appreciates the university's strong statement condemning last night's violence and applauds the quick action by law enforcement officers to remove violent criminals from the university campus,' the statement said. 'While these are good first steps, the university must do more to deter future violence and guarantee that Jewish students have a safe and productive learning environment."
The Trump administration has argued universities have allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza and has opened investigations at colleges, frozen federal funding and detained and deported several foreign students with ties to pro-Palestinian protests.
Additionally, Israel's government on Monday approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, a move that, if implemented, would vastly expand Israel's operations there and likely draw fierce international opposition.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza. Twenty-one of them are still believed to be alive.
Israel's ensuing offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who don't distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump's hush money case is back in court. These judges could decide what happens next
Trump's hush money case is back in court. These judges could decide what happens next

The Independent

time9 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Trump's hush money case is back in court. These judges could decide what happens next

The appeals process begins in earnest on Wednesday, after a New York City jury last year convicted Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a scheme to silence an adult film star, whose story about having sex with Trump threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign. That unanimous conviction on May 30 — and a judge's sentencing on January 10 that preserved the historic verdict — ensured that Trump would return to the White House as the first-ever criminally convicted president. The conviction carried no consequences for the president. Still, it left an indelible stain he has so far failed to remove despite successfully fighting off federal indictments that consumed his 2024 campaign. But his legal battle isn't over. On Wednesday, a federal appeals court in Manhattan will hear oral arguments as his attorneys attempt to transfer the case from New York criminal court to federal jurisdiction, a process known as 'removal.' The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg opposes the move, arguing such a case cannot be removed to federal court after a conviction. But attorneys for the president claim that his 'unprecedented prosecution 'belongs there. If the case is moved to federal court, Justice Department lawyers could theoretically dismiss it. In the weeks leading up to the 2016 election, Trump's then-attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 for the rights to her story, one of several so-called hush money schemes the president arranged with tabloid publishers to prevent embarrassing stories from being published anywhere. Trump then reimbursed Cohen in a series of checks, some of which were cut from the White House. Those reimbursements were falsely recorded in accounting records as 'legal expenses,' fulfilling what prosecutors called a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election unlawfully. A weeks-long trial in Manhattan criminal court last year included blockbuster testimony from Cohen, Daniels, White House aides, and Trump's allies. At the same time, emails, phone records, text messages, invoices, checks with Trump's Sharpie-inked signature, and other documents — including a handwritten note from his accountants that outlined the math for Cohen's checks — gave jurors the paper trail. Days before Trump's inauguration, and more than seven months after the jury's decision, New York Justice Juan Merchan handed Trump a sentence that preserved the verdict without any criminal consequences. Manhattan prosecutors and Judge Merchan agreed that the only remaining option for the conclusion of the case — navigating a landmark Supreme Court decision on 'immunity' and the potential interference with his second term — meant abandoning a typical sentence of jail, fines or probation. 'The only lawful sentence' that remained for Trump's crimes is that of an 'unconditional discharge,' Merchan told Trump during his sentencing hearing on January 10. Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing. His attorneys, whom the president has appointed to top roles at the Department of Justice, argued that certain evidence used at trial should have been withheld from jurors under the Supreme Court's 'immunity' decision, which shields the president from criminal prosecution for 'official' acts in office. However, those arguments were rejected by Judge Merchan, the New York appeals court, and the Supreme Court, which stated that Trump's challenges to 'alleged evidentiary violations' could be addressed through the normal course of appeal. Meanwhile, Trump's long-simmering fight to move the case entirely out of the hands of state courts will be heard before a panel of federal appeals court judges. The president has hired the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell to support his federal appeal. Last month, Justice Department lawyers filed a supporting brief in the case, arguing that the judges should throw it out entirely. Trump is simultaneously appealing an $83 million verdict in a defamation case from E. Jean Carroll as well as a massive judgment against him in a sprawling civil fraud case, with interest growing to more than half a billion dollars owed to the state of New York after the president and his top associates defrauded banks and investors to benefit his real-estate empire.

South Korea halts loudspeaker broadcasts along border with rival North Korea
South Korea halts loudspeaker broadcasts along border with rival North Korea

The Independent

time9 minutes ago

  • The Independent

South Korea halts loudspeaker broadcasts along border with rival North Korea

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference.

US cities brace for more protests as parts of Los Angeles placed under curfew
US cities brace for more protests as parts of Los Angeles placed under curfew

Reuters

time14 minutes ago

  • Reuters

US cities brace for more protests as parts of Los Angeles placed under curfew

LOS ANGELES, June 11 (Reuters) - Several U.S. cities braced for protests on Wednesday against President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration raids, as parts of the country's second largest city Los Angeles spent the night under curfew in an effort to quell five days of unrest. The Governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, said he will deploy the National Guard this week, ahead of planned protests. Protesters and police in Austin clashed on Monday. Trump's extraordinary measures of sending National Guard and Marines to quell protests in Los Angeles has sparked a national debate on the use of military on U.S. soil and pitted the Republican president against California's Democrat governor. "This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk. That's when the downward spiral began," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a video address on Tuesday. "He again chose escalation. He chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety. ... Democracy is under assault." Newsom, widely seen as preparing for a presidential run in 2028, and the state of California sued Trump and the Defense Department on Monday, seeking to block the deployment of federal troops. Trump in turn has suggested Newsom should be arrested. Hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday under orders from Trump, after he also ordered the deployment of 4,000 National Guard to the city. Marines and National Guard are to be used in the protection of government personnel and buildings and not in police action. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the deployments were not necessary as police could manage the protest, the majority of which have been peaceful, and limited to about five streets. However, due to looting and violence at night she imposed a curfew over one square mile of the city's downtown, starting Tuesday night. The curfew will last several days. Police said multiple groups stayed on the streets in some areas despite the curfew and "mass arrests" were initiated. Police earlier said that 197 people had already been arrested on Tuesday - more than double the total number of arrests to date. Democratic leaders have raised concerns over a national crisis in what has become the most intense flashpoint yet in the Trump administration's efforts to deport migrants living in the country illegally, and then crack down on opponents who take to the streets in protest. Trump, voted back into office last year largely for his promise to deport undocumented immigrants, used a speech honoring soldiers on Tuesday to defend his decision. He told troops at the army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina: "Generations of army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness." "What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags," Trump said, adding his administration would "liberate Los Angeles." Demonstrators have waved the flags of Mexico and other countries in solidarity for the migrants rounded up in a series of intensifying raids. Homeland Security said on Monday its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division had arrested 2,000 immigration offenders per day recently, far above the 311 daily average in fiscal year 2024 under former President Joe Biden. Protests have also taken place in other cities including New York, Atlanta and Chicago, where demonstrators shouted at and scuffled with officers. Some protesters climbed onto the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza, while others chanted that ICE should be abolished. Texas Governor Abbott said late on Tuesday that he will deploy the National Guard, which "will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order." "Texas National Guard will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace & order. Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest," Abbott posted on X. South Texas organizations are expected to hold anti-ICE rallies on Wednesday and Saturday, CNN reported local media as saying. About 700 Marines were in a staging area in the Seal Beach area about 30 miles (50 km) south of Los Angeles on Tuesday, awaiting deployment to specific locations, a U.S. official said. California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Reuters the state was concerned about allowing federal troops to protect personnel, saying there was a risk that could violate an 1878 law that generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. "Protecting personnel likely means accompanying ICE agents into communities and neighborhoods, and protecting functions could mean protecting the ICE function of enforcing the immigration law," Bonta said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday posted photos on X of National Guard troops accompanying ICE officers on an immigration raid. Trump administration officials have vowed to redouble the immigration raids in response to the street protests. The last time the military was used for direct police action under the Insurrection Act was in 1992, when the California governor at the time asked President George H.W. Bush to help respond to Los Angeles riots over the acquittal of police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store