The Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity (SCDS) at Penn State staged an Anti-ICE protest Thursday night that spanned from the Allen Street gates to the Nittany Lion Inn, where the Penn State Board of Trustees is currently lodging before Friday’s meeting

Protesters began gathering outside the Allen Street gates at approximately 5:45 p.m., carrying signs that read “immigrants make America great,” “no one is illegal on stolen land,” and “no ICE at Penn State.”

Five minutes before the scheduled start time of 6 p.m., one protester with a megaphone began organizing the members and assigning chants.

They explained their reasoning for gathering that evening was the university’s stance on ICE entering campus, and the students on campus who had their visas revoked last spring.

“We’re going to stand with them through these attacks,” the protester said into the megaphone.

Roughly 30 people were gathered at the gates when the protest officially began. A banner was hoisted up that read, “Send ICE terror and U.S. imperialism to their graves. Get organized and fight for socialist revolution.”

A counter-protester stood silently on the corner of campus, bearing a sign that read “pro ICE!”

A number of protesters came forward and gave speeches into the megaphone, including a student from United Socialists at Penn State and one from Students for Justice in Palestine.

“None of us are free until all of us are free,” the student yelled.

The protest continued peacefully until 6:40 p.m., when a passerby started yelling back at the protesters. He began hitting down their signs with a wooden walking stick, and the protesters began pushing back, resulting in a physical altercation.

While blows landed from both sides and profanities filled the air, signs were torn to shreds, and the man was completely knocked down to the ground. The police appeared on the scene roughly five minutes later, and the protest came to a halt while they de-escalated the situation, and the man was removed from the group.

Despite the physicality of the altercation between the man and multiple protesters, the group’s original goal to march to the Nittany Lion Inn was still in place, and they began to head up campus at 6:50 p.m.

“Trustees, trustees, you can’t hide. Stand with us or step aside,” the group chanted as they marched.

Some police officers joined them for the entirety of the march following the violence on Allen Street, and police cars circled the area.

The protesters reached the Nittany Lion Inn at roughly 7:10 p.m., and they chanted continuously for the next 10 minutes to the hotel.

The group left the Nittany Lion Inn to continue marching for a few more minutes and ultimately ended their display outside the Mateer building.

“They’re [the Board of Trustees] having their meeting today. If they’re not going to listen to students, we’re going to force them to listen to us. We don’t want ICE on campus,” one of the organizers of the protest said following its conclusion.