Police are still investigating an incident from February 28 when two people at the annual University of New Hampshire Career Fair in the Memorial Union Building dumped red paint on display tables.
The Career Fair was directed at students looking for careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and business. It included display tables from a wide range of companies, but in an interview with WMUR, UNH Police Chief Paul Dean said they believe the targets of the paint were BAE Systems and General Dynamics, two military defense manufacturing companies who were present at the fair. Dean said that the motive was unclear, and though there was a protest outside of the event, they have no way of knowing if the two had any correlation and they had no issues with the protest outside.
The protesters were present at the fair to oppose the presence of companies like BAE due to their contribution to the military defense of Israel within the ongoing conflict, stating on a flyer they are “profiting from and arming genocide.”
The Palestine Solidarity Coalition (PSC) at UNH maintains that they had no connection to the event.
“Our protest was only outside the venue, as reflected in our flyers. We had no connection to the inside event,” UNH PSC said in a statement to The New Hampshire.
Dean clarified that no one was directly assaulted in the incident.
“The red paint was poured on a series of display tables and some of the paint splattered on people behind the tables,” said Dean. “There was damage to displays and equipment, estimated to be over $500, making the vandalism a felony.”
The police are following a photo taken of one of the suspects after the event. WMUR has since posted the photo, describing the suspect as wearing “a black winter hat, a green or gray jacket, black pants and black boots.” They also added that the suspect was covering their face with a black medical mask at the time of the incident.
The police are currently unsure whether or not the perpetrators were students, but urge anyone with information to come forward.
