PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — One camp set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators near the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland campus has been gutted and is being demolished.
At around 2 a.m. Tuesday, protesters occupying the camp outside the Cathedral of Learning began to evacuate.
No arrests were made and the encampment was peacefully emptied.
Brian Smithmyer, KDKA photojournalist
“First and foremost, we are just grateful to have a very tense day peacefully resolved,” Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto said.
Chief Scirotto said the encampment cleanup took place following a meeting between Mayor Ed Gainey, representatives from the Mayor’s Office and “trusted members” of the camp.
“People had an opportunity to be heard, that’s their goal,” Scirotto said. “Our goal is to maintain a safe environment. During this process, we were both able to achieve our goals.”
“We understand and protect the First Amendment, it is our primary obligation as an organization,” said Chief Scirotto. “We take that obligation seriously and we were able to fulfill that obligation. That’s our goal every night.”
Scirotto said that since the encampment was set up on university property, Pitt will be responsible for taking down the fence and other materials.
Pitt workers began demolishing the encampment shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Demands from demonstrators at the University of Pittsburgh encampment
The encampment was set up Sunday evening with protesters demanding a number of things from the university.
A statement they posted on Instagram said in part that “From his continued, deafening silence to his material investments in the ‘Israeli’ occupation, Pitt maintains his complicity in the genocide in Gaza.”
Protesters also demanded the school “disclose all university investments” and “divest the University of Pittsburgh’s finances, including the endowment, from companies and institutions that profit from Israel,” among other things.
This comes after the Schenley Plaza encampment near the University of Pittsburgh It was authorized in late April, near the end of the academic year.
At the time, two people were arrested by Pitt police as protesters attempted to occupy the area around the Cathedral of Learning.
Protests took place on college campuses across the United States. Since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in October.