Temple University is under fire after pro-Palestinian protesters at a campus career fair accused police of brutality, including forcibly removing a hijab and using physical force during arrests.

"During my arrest at the career fair, a male Temple police officer groped my breast and pulled it, using it to pull me in for my own arrest," Alia Amanpour, one of the protesters, told NBC Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Another protester, Johara Shamaa, said a Philadelphia police officer removed her hijab — a religious head covering — during her arrest, and alleged that she was denied the opportunity to wear it for her booking photo and during her 20-hour detention.

"Even after repeatedly explaining the significance of my religious attire to the officers, they mocked me and denied me the right to cover myself," Shamaa told the outlet. "Despite me crying and shaking, a male officer then proceeded to take my mugshot photo without my hijab on."

Students for Justice in Palestine's demonstration took place Sept. 26 at a career fair organized by the Temple University Engineering School in the Howard Gittis Student Center. The goal was to voice opposition to some career fair vendors who, in the group's opinion, are connected to violence in Gaza. Four people were ultimately arrested at the event and are facing disorderly conduct charges. SJP was also suspended by the university.

"During that demonstration, a group of 12-15 individuals, including both Temple students and non-Temple individuals, caused a major disruption for several hundred students who attended the fair and the visiting employers," the school later said in a statement.

In a statement on social media about the arrests, Temple University's Department of Public Safety said it reviewed witness accounts, building security footage, and police body camera recordings in response to the brutality allegations.

"There is no evidence that a hijab was pulled off by police. On the contrary, the individual was assisted by TUPD and a fellow student when the hijab slipped from covering her hair," the department said.

However, SJP maintained that protesters were "brutalized" while protesting at the career fair.

At a news conference on Wednesday, the Philadelphia branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded that Temple police, city police, and the mayor's office look into the claims that the woman's headscarf was removed during the arrest.

A meeting between CAIR members and university officials was set for Thursday.

"When protestors were approached by several administrators and police supervisors, the protestors were non-responsive and ignored their outreach. When police approached the group a final time to lawfully detain the leader, several other protestors pushed and shoved police officers, which resulted in the apprehension of four individuals, as previously reported," the university said. "This consequence was not a result of the content of the protest, but rather the physically aggressive behavior of the protestors and the significant negative impact on the university event."

Topics Temple university, Police, Arrest, Protests