PHILADELPHIA — Nine people — including one student — were arrested early Saturday morning on the campus of Swarthmore College as police disbanded a recently formed pro-Palestinian encampment.

Shortly before 8 a.m. Vice President of Student Affairs Stephanie Ives entered Trotter Lawn, with police officers, warning the Swarthmore chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to peacefully end the encampment they had set up on Wednesday or face consequences.

On a video posted on Instagram by Swarthmore SJP, Ives tells protesters with covered faces that the inability to identify whether they are Swarthmore students poses a community risk.

After stressing the school had issued multiple disbandment orders, she warns the crowd that staying can lead to a citation for trespassing or an arrest.

For Swarthmore students, consequences could involve interim suspension and worse, she says.

“Failing to [leave] will lead to arrest and being placed in interim suspension, that jeopardizes your standing at the college, your ability to return in the fall and you may face expulsion,”Ives says in the video.

As police officers walked around her, she told protesters that they will be restrained “for [their] safety and the safety of the officers involved.”

Swarthmore Borough Police Chief Raymond Stufflet then gave students 10 minutes to vacate.

A second video shows more than 30 police officers entering the encampment, right before 8 a.m. Officers can be seen throwing lawn chairs and pulling down tents and signs, as a small circle of masked protesters sat on the ground, their arms interlocked.

At one point, the video shows four officers pulling a protester from the circle and laying the person down on their stomach. Three officers pinned the protester’s arms to the sides, as another officer held their ankles down. They then carried the encampment member away in a horizontal position.

Another protester was lying on the ground, surrounded by 11 officers, when one officer put a knee on their back. Another protester yelled “Get the [expletive] off him,” while the crowd chanted, “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?”

In total nine protesters were arrested, according to a Swarthmore SJP Instagram post.

In a statement issued later, Swarthmore College said: ”Many, if not all, of the protestors — both students and non-students — were fully masked and tried to remain unidentifiable."

Neither the police department nor Swarthmore SJP had responded to requests for comment from The Inquirer at the time of publication.

Before the arrests, Ives warned protesters that participants who fail to provide identification documents at the police station may face additional charges and be held overnight.

Swarthmore officials told The Inquirer that just one of the arrested is currently a student and that all nine taken into custody are facing misdemeanor trespassing charges.

The student will be placed on immediate interim suspension and will not be allowed on campus until the completion of a student conduct process.

Last year, Swarthmore became the last standing college protest encampment in the Philadelphia region. Participants ultimately voluntarily ended the encampment.

Just after noon Wednesday, Swarthmore students set up an enclosure of signs and tents on Trotter Lawn to protest the ongoing war in Gaza, what they contend is the college’s unwillingness to commit to divesting from entities profiting off the war, and what they say is the college’s lukewarm support for students who are vulnerable to the Trump administration’s aggressive deportations, revoked student visas, and sudden abductions.

According to the school statement, the new encampment “drew the attention of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, who urged [Swarthmore College] to bring the encampment to an end as quickly as possible.”

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