Pro-Palestine protesters occupy Stanford president’s office

Read The Daily’s latest coverage on the attempted takeover here.

Pro-Palestine protesters entered and barricaded themselves inside Building 10, the president’s office, located in Main Quad, at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, which marks Stanford’s last day of classes for spring quarter. Protestors plan to remain in the building until the University meets demands or they are forcibly removed.

Around 10 students are barricaded in the building, while about 50 others surrounded the building with linked arms. Once inside, protestors barricaded doors with bike locks, chains, ladders and chairs and covered security cameras with tin foil. Outside, protesters spray painted on a window, “Our office now,” and chanted, “Palestine will be free, we will free Palestine.”

Individuals from APEX Security Group and the Sheriff’s Office were present outside Building 10.

Protestors issued three demands to the University: add the divestment bill submitted by Stanford Against Apartheid in Palestine (SAAP) to the next Board of Trustees meeting, with a recommendation by President Richard Saller supporting the bill, disclose finances from the previous fiscal year (2022) including endowment investments and drop all disciplinary and criminal charges against pro-Palestinian students at Stanford.

The group has renamed Building 10 to “Dr. Adnan Office,” named after Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, “the Palestinian General Surgeon who was murdered in April by the Israeli genocidal campaign,” according to a press release sent to The Daily.

The occupation follows a 120-day Sit-in to Stop Genocide removed in February and an encampment established in White Plaza in April.

The protesters described themselves as an autonomous group of Stanford students unaffiliated with any Voluntary Student Organization (VSO). 

On May 20, a group of demonstrators entered and attempted to occupy Building 570 amid a larger protest calling for divestment from Israel. The protestors blocked exits and prevented students from leaving the building. Around twenty minutes later, SUDPS broke up the group. 

Demonstrators today were not involved in the attempt at Building 570 occupation, according to an organizer, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation. According to the organizer, the Building 570 protesters were mostly non-students, while this protest is entirely student-run. 

Outgoing president Richard Saller previously told the Daily that he was reluctant to use police to break-up the encampment as he wants “to de-escalate the tensions on campus and not take actions that escalate.” However, he added that if there were an escalation on campus, “we would have to think about that option more seriously than we have up to this point.”

This story is developing. Follow live updates from The Daily here.

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