In Portland State University's crescent-shaped library, students can typically view the lush spaces below through floor-to-ceiling windows. However, the library has been occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters since Monday and has now been turned into a makeshift fortress.
Chairs are piled up around the window. Wooden pallets are stacked next to the door as a fortress. Next to where the circulation counter would normally be, the students set up a medical center in case police tried to break in.
“When Israel stops occupying Palestine, we will stop occupying this building,” reads one of the many messages scrawled in red paint on the wall.
Portland State University, founded as a campus to educate World War II veterans, has a long history of protests. In 1970, students and other anti-Vietnam War protesters clashed with police in a green area near campus. The clash, which became known as the Battle of the Park Blocks, sent dozens of protesters to the hospital. The city saw violent protests in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd, with activists marching through the streets and breaking windows even after other cities had fallen silent.
Now, the city's new center of protest is Miller Library, where dozens of demonstrators have been defying university administrators' calls to vacate the grounds for more than a day.
The university asked the Portland Police Bureau to intervene. But after a late Monday press conference in which authorities warned of possible felonies for those who refused to leave, activists began to hunker down and prepare for what happens next.
Inside the library on Tuesday, young people dressed in black and wearing masks were moving furniture and barricading around doors and windows. Some people were sleeping at the rest area.
Organizers scribbled a list of essentials on yellow paper, asking for things like water, vegan food, radios, balaclavas, helmets and ventilators. By mid-afternoon, two more cars arrived with more wooden pallets.
Most of those who organized the operation said they did not want to talk about it, even anonymously. One student, who declined to give his name, said he plans to stay as long as possible.
Faisal Ibraheem, a student not involved in the occupation but who showed up to support the effort, said Tuesday that as a Muslim student, he sees what is happening with Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip. He said he felt scared. The library protest and similar protests are taking place across the country.
“Something has to be done. If this turns out to be the only option, they might actually start doing something,” he said.
But another student, Michael Bausch, said that while the activists' goals are valid, their efforts seem to lack direction and that solutions can come from listening to everyone in the community. He said it was supposed to be.
“I feel like we need a better student union than this,” he said.
The students called on the university to sever ties with Boeing, which supplies weapons to Israel, and called on the university's leadership to seek an unconditional ceasefire.
Initially, the university took a non-intervening stance toward the demonstrations in order to prevent them from escalating. University President Anne Cudd said she had heard that the library group included students, staff, faculty and community members and felt it was appropriate for the university to engage with them.
Last week, Ms. Cudd said the university would agree to suspend receiving financial gifts from Boeing until a broader discussion of the issue takes place.
But when protesters began occupying the library building, Cudd said she could not tolerate the damage to property visible from the street outside.
“I have always supported the right to peacefully protest,” she said in a message to the university on Tuesday. “And I would be happy to meet with the students and hear their views. But we cannot allow this kind of illegal behavior to continue.”
But outside the library entrance was a dirty sign with a message for her. “Anne Cad: My hands are covered in blood.”