Pro-Palestinian activists claimed responsibility for vandalism of the Benjamin Franklin statue in front of College Hall early Thursday morning.
An Instagram post from the pro-Palestinian group Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine showed video footage of an unidentifiable individual splattering red paint on the statue. Penn's Division of Public Safety confirmed they received a report of the incident and said officers have responded.
“Personnel from Facilities and Real Estate Development are working to repair the damage. Penn Police are investigating,” DPS wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
By 10 a.m., FRES workers had pressure washed the paint off the statue.
The PAO Instagram statement said that an “autonomous group” was responsible for the vandalism. The statement said the group intends for it to serve as a “visual reminder of the over 186,000 martyrs who have been murdered by the IOF and the university’s complicity [in] this genocide.”
“The University has tried to suppress the student intifada and has turned a blind eye to the genocide--all in the name of ‘campus safety.’ …” the PAO statement read. “The education system of Gaza has been systematically destroyed, and the genocide has only expanded.”
PAO also described the statue as a “symbol of imperial violence and colonialism.”
There have been several incidents of vandalism on campus since controversy erupted following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and last fall's Palestine Writes Literature Festival. These instances include antisemitic graffiti reported next to the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house last October and several incidents of vandalism — including of the Benjamin Franklin and Split Button statues in front of College Hall – during last spring's Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
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