Penn executes search warrant as pro-Palestinian activists allege ‘raid’ of student organizers’ house

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Penn Police executed a search warrant at an off-campus house that pro-Palestinian activists allege belongs to student activists at the University.

Penn’s Division of Public Safety confirmed to The Daily Pennsylvanian that police officers executed a search warrant on Friday at an off-campus location on that day. At least 12 Penn Police officers and one Philadelphia Police Department officer wearing tactical gear “raided the home” of pro-Palestinian Penn student organizers at 6 a.m. on Oct. 18, according to an Instagram post on Monday evening by Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine. 

The DP could not confirm the identity of the individuals involved in the incident. The warrant was reviewed by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office and approved by a bail commissioner, DPS said.

“While we do not comment on open criminal investigations, we can confirm that on Friday, Penn Police did execute a search warrant at an off-campus location,” DPS wrote. “This search warrant was executed following all proper policies and procedures.”

Philadelphia Police did not respond to the DP’s request for comment.

According to PAO’s post, officers “stormed the house in full tactical gear” after allegedly pointing a gun at a neighbor and threatening to break down the door, and “point[ed] rifles and handguns” at residents’ heads as they exited their rooms. The post alleged that officers did not show a warrant or provide their names or badge numbers. 

“[O]ne student was separated and taken in for questioning,” PAO wrote in its statement. “Police also seized this student’s personal device on suspicion of vandalism. This student was released shortly after: no charges were given. No arrests were made.”

The DP could not immediately confirm the allegations made in the post. Requests for comment were left with University Life, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, Pennsylvania state Rep. Rick Krajewksi (D-Philadelphia), Philadelphia City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, and several pro-Palestinian student and faculty groups.

PAO called the raid “Penn’s most egregious escalation in its campaign to silence anti-genocide activists calling out Penn’s institutional ties to the genocide of Palestinians,” and that the University “allowing their private police force to point rifles at the faces of their students of color is an unjustifiable act of terror.” 

The DP reviewed archived recordings on the Philadelphia Police scanner from between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Friday. Multiple recordings on the scanner around 5:55 a.m. on Friday suggest that Penn Police responded to a request for a police presence in PPD’s 18th District, in an area near Penn’s campus. The DP could not immediately confirm the location of the residence at which the warrant was executed.

The statement also referenced Penn Police’s previous actions against pro-Palestinian protesters in recent months, including when police in riot gear swept the 16-day Gaza Solidarity Encampment on May 10. 

“Penn Police’s raid was a deliberate choice made by Penn to instill fear and traumatize their own students,” PAO wrote, adding that Penn says its police intervention has been done “in the name of ‘maintaining order.’”

“Raiding students’ homes is not order,” it wrote. “Penn’s actions are proof that they are afraid of the growing power of the Student Intifada … We will not stop until Penn divests from the Palestinian genocide, and we will not rest until Palestine is free.” 

Several other pro-Palestinian student activist groups from across the Philadelphia area have shown their support for PAO and Penn student activists on social media, including Temple University’s, Villanova University’s, and Swarthmore College’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine.