11 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested on Monday evening after demonstrators vandalized and barricaded Morrill Hall.

A spokesperson for the University of Minnesota said protestors entered the building around 4 p.m. and began spray painting, breaking interior windows, and barricading the buildings entrances and exits.

University officials say that some staff members were unable to leave the building for “an extended period of time.”

The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office assisted the University of Minnesota Police Department in entering the building around 5:40 p.m. At that time, 11 people were arrested, officials say.

The extent of damage to Morrill Hall is unknown at this time.

According to reporting by the Associated Press, Ryan Mattson, a media liaison with the university’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, said some protesters from the group who were inside the building were arrested. He did not know how many.

Students were still protesting, “just trying to find where our people are,” he said from the scene.

Merlin Van Alstein, an organizer with the group, earlier said about 30 protesters occupied Morrill Hall, with a larger group gathered outside.

The group renamed the building “Halimy Hall,” in remembrance of 19-year-old Palestinian TikTok creator Medo Halimy who died in August in an apparent Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military said it was not aware of the strike that killed Halimy.

The protesters were equipped with tents and supplies, and said they planned to stay until their demands are met. They were demanding that the university divest from Israel and repeal its political neutrality agreement. Video posted online showed chairs stacked in front of an exterior door of the building, in an apparent barricade.

“We plan to stay until they forcibly remove us,” Van Alstein said before the arrests. “The people inside aren’t going to leave until they meet our demands or they are forced to leave.”

The group earlier shared a video to Facebook of a speaker’s announcement that its members were occupying the building but not restricting anyone from exiting or entering.

The speaker appeared in front of a large sign reading, “Money for education, not for bombs & occupation.” Other campus protests around the U.S. in response to the Israel-Hamas war have included the divestment call.

The protests, including earlier this year at University of Minnesota campuses, raised issues of free speech and antisemitism as students demanded that their universities cease doing business with Israel or companies they said supported the war in Gaza.

The university’s homecoming week began Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.