Pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside the main administrative building of the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, on Monday evening, protest organizers said. The school said the president and provost met with the protesters.
Twenty-four protesters, including students from the private art and design school, began a sit-in at the building Monday morning, according to a statement from the organizers, RISD Students for Justice in Palestine. Just before 7 p.m., they occupied the second floor of the building and set up barricades, the statement said.
A livestream from organizers showed protesters gathered in a hallway on the building's second floor chanting “Free, Free Palestine” as guards appeared in a room to prevent them from entering the space. Video showed other protesters gathering outside the building.
The developments escalated a protest held outside the building, 20 Washington Place, since last Wednesday and added to the short list of school buildings occupied by activists protesting Israel's war in Gaza. Last week, police officers ended the occupation of buildings at Columbia University and Cal Poly Humboldt, evacuating the buildings and arresting dozens of people.
The building at 20 Washington Place contains the offices of the Rhode Island school's top officials and its administrative and financial services.
The school's president, Crystal Williams, and the provost, Touba Ghadessi, were at the building meeting with students involved in the protest. Jaime Marland, RISD's senior director of public relations, said in an email around 10 p.m.: “We have and continue to affirm our students' rights to freedom of speech, freedom of speech and peaceful assembly,” she added.
The protesters' demands include that the school divest from investments that benefit Israel and that the school's president “publicly condemn the Israeli occupation of Gaza as a genocide,” according to the organizers' statement.
The protesters said they then renamed the building Fathi Ghaben Place a Palestinian artist who died in Gaza in February. Palestinian officials have said Mr Ghaben was not allowed to leave Gaza to seek medical care.
A Providence Police spokesperson said the school had not requested police assistance, although police were “aware of the protest.”