ST. LOUIS – A group of students and community members planned an encampment in an apparent protest Saturday afternoon on the Washington University campus, FOX 2 has learned.
According to a report from our news partners at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, dozens of arrests were made on campus Saturday during the protest.
FOX 2 has reached out to officials at Washington University for comment, but we were unable to reach a spokesperson Saturday evening on what transpired. We are working to confirm more details.
The encampment plan follows a group march Saturday afternoon around Washington University. It also follows a series of encampments nationwide in response to the war in Gaza.
More than 34,000 people have died since Hamas, a militant group that controls Gaza, launched attacks against Israel in October, triggering a response by Israeli forces.
FOX 2 received a news release Saturday afternoon from the group that planned the encampment. The group, unnamed, consisted of an undisclosed number of students and community members. The group stated in the news release that the encampment was originally planned outside Olin Library and in solidarity with Palestine.
The group says it has set forth several demands, pushing for the university to cut ties with Boeing amid the war, among other actions.
Washington University has a partnership with Boeing. The group says that the bombs dropped on Gaza since October are the same ones manufactured at a Boeing facility in St. Charles.
In March, WashU’s Student Union approved a resolution that called on the university to financially divest from Boeing. The university’s response to this resolution is not quite clear.
Since the student union resolution, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported of another instance earlier this month that reportedly led to arrests April 13 in a demonstration against the university’s ties to Boeing.
The group has also called on the university to cut ties with Israeli educational institutions, including study abroad programs, and release a statement condemning the war in Palestine.
FOX 2 attempted to reach a spokesperson from Washington University for comment as of the time of this story’s publication, but we have not heard back.
Our news photographers spotted a heavy police presence Saturday evening around the campus.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.