A man drove his car toward a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters at Portland State University (PSU) in Oregon, spraying a chemical substance similar to pepper spray before fleeing, authorities said Thursday night.
During a sweep of the university’s library, occupied for several days, police engaged demonstrators in combat and arrested at least 30 people.
Related posts
Tensions erupted Thursday when demonstrators refused to leave the campus area and took over the college building for the second time. Officers from the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) detailed their operations on the social media site X throughout the day.
According to a PPB post, campus police “located the driver of a car who stopped near the crowd and sprayed some kind of pepper spray earlier this afternoon.”
The police department stated that they transported the adult male to a local hospital on a police mental health hold.
The Hill has contacted Portland State University and PPB for further information on the individual who drove the automobile.
KATU2 reported that the car appeared to have undergone vandalism, with its windows cracked and items scattered around.
Why are college students protesting?
Officers began clearing the campus library at 6 a.m. Thursday. According to PPB, officers were conducting a “slow, methodical clear of the building” and encountered barriers at numerous locations, mostly piled-up furniture and slippery flooring “intended to cause police to slip and fall.”
Police also posted photographs online of the building’s interior graffiti and tools that seemed to be “improvised weapons, ball bearings, paint balloons, spray bottles of ink, and DIY armor.” They asserted that police officers did not use any of these tools.
Later Thursday, police confirmed that trespassers had broken down a fence around the library and reentered the building. Police made more arrests, including those who refused to leave the outdoor area near the library.
The PSU protests parallel those taking place on college campuses across the country, as students and community members demand that their universities withdraw from Israeli firms or those who support Israel with weaponry in its fight against Hamas.
Since the beginning of the college encampments, more than 2,000 arrests have taken place nationwide. After demonstrators occupied one of Columbia University’s buildings, hundreds of police officers outfitted in riot gear entered the campus.
