PORTLAND — The Portland State University campus is closed Tuesday “due to the ongoing incident at the library,” the university said on the social-media site X.
Pro-Palestinian protesters broke into the university’s main library Monday night, prompting the school to ask for help from Portland police.
“PSU’s Campus Public Safety Office was on the scene but, due to the size of the crowd, was unable to enter the building to apprehend the suspects,” the university said on its website. “PSU has requested the assistance of the Portland Police Bureau to remove trespassers from the library.”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, at a late-night press conference along with Police Chief Bob Day, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt and PSU President Ann Cudd, said the students and activists camping out to protest the Israel-Hamas War had moved from “peaceful behavior” to “criminal activity” and that authorities would not allow it to stand.
It is not known at this time what the closure of the campus portends.
About 500 people congregated at Portland State on Monday afternoon to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, one of many such protests on college campuses around the U.S. About 50 or so protesters broke into the Millar Library later.
Barricades are still in place around the Portland State campus, reminiscent of the locally infamous 1970 “Battle of the Park Blocks” over President Nixon’s escalation of the Vietnam War into Cambodia. Messages that some consider antisemitic are written on the barricades and on university buildings.
Cudd has said Portland State and city officials will “protect ourselves and our community” and has asked protesters to “walk away” peacefully.