By Marcela Rodrigues, Aarón Torres and Philip Jankowski
https://www.dallasnews.com
Police at the University of Texas on Monday arrested protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration where some were setting up tents on the Austin campus.
As of 5 p.m. Monday, 43 protesters had been arrested, said Austin criminal defense attorney George Lobb. He has been coordinating with the Austin Lawyers Guild to provide legal aid for those arrested during the campus demonstrations.
The university was unable to give official confirmation of the total number arrested. Travis County officials did not immediately respond to an inquiry regarding the arrests.
The demonstrators began putting up tents on the school’s main lawn around noon. The campus police statement was sent about an hour later.
While the tents were being set up, dozens of students and demonstrators linked arms, forming a circle around the encampment.
They chanted “free, free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
In their alert, police officials said the students’ behavior is “disorderly conduct.”
“I command you in the name of the University of Texas Police Department to disperse, and if you do not, you shall be arrested,” Assistant Chief Shane Streepy said.
Around 1:30 p.m., dozens of state troopers in riot gear arrived at the South Mall and lined up across from the encampment. Some were carrying zip ties.
After a few minutes, state troopers started advancing toward the encampment and surrounding it.
“After protesters ignored repeated directives from both the administration and law enforcement officers to comply with Institutional Rules and remove tents assembled on the University’s South Lawn, then physically engaged with and verbally assaulted Dean of Students staff who attempted to confiscate them, UT and partner law enforcement agencies dismantled an encampment and arrested several protesters,” UT officials said in a statement Monday afternoon.
“Baseball size rocks were found strategically placed within the encampment. The majority of protesters are believed to be unaffiliated with the university. On Saturday, the University received extensive online threats from a group organizing today’s protest,” they added.
Gov. Greg Abbott posted on social media around 3 p.m., “No encampments will be allowed. Instead, arrests are being made.”
Monday’s arrests come days after more than 50 people were arrested for protesting the war in Gaza on the same lawn at UT. Those arrested last week faced charges of criminal trespassing, but Travis County prosecutors declined the charges.
Olive Gonzalez, 22, a senior advertising student who didn’t join the protests last week but decided to show support today, said law enforcement’s presence is excessive. Watching UT’s response has been “disheartening,” she said.
“I don’t think that [protesters] came out here with the intention to cause havoc on the university,” she said. “I think they came out for a worthy cause.”
“If these were their kids getting dragged off and abused by the law enforcement, how would they feel?” said Shan Panjwani, 20, a sophomore studying business. “Are they really just answering orders or do they actually believe in what they’re doing right now? Any normal human, anybody with a moral compass knows that this is wrong.”
Panjwani said that multiple student groups protest for a variety of causes throughout the year, but this one is different.
“The way that they’re responding to the people who protest for this cause specifically is completely different from the way they usually respond to protests,” he said. “You do not need to bring out people with AR’s and riot shields against kids who are unarmed just sitting on the campus where we paid thousands of dollars a year to come to school.”
Austin Democratic state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt said via a phone interview that she was headed to UT’s South Lawn to monitor the protests.
Eckhardt said she has not been in contact with UT President Jay Hartzell. She noted that the decision to remove tents was consistent with demands UT made last week. Officials “were clear in communicating that on the first day, Wednesday, that tents were a type of visible obstruction that they were trying to avoid,” she said.
”The best course of action is to reach out to as many grass-top influencers to deescalate the situation as I can,” Eckhardt added.
Across the country, pro-Palestinian protests have taken place on college campuses recently. Demonstrators want a cease-fire in Gaza and for their universities to divest from companies that make weapons used in the war.
The protests gained momentum after more than 100 students at Columbia University in New York were arrested earlier this month and charged with trespassing after many set up tents on the campus lawn.
Student protesters have led demonstrations nationwide since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking around 240 people hostage, according to the Israeli government. In the months following, Israel started bombing the Gaza strip, killing more than 34,000 people, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The Dallas Morning News cannot independently verify these numbers.
Some protesters Monday were seen asking for medics. The National Weather Service showed a heat index of about 90 degrees for much of the afternoon.
By 4 p.m., state troopers and police had cleared out and secured the South Mall. Some protesters attempted to block a police vehicle from leaving campus, but officers used a chemical spray on the crowd and the vehicle was able to depart. Two loud bangs, about 30 seconds apart and accompanied by white smoke, went off during the confrontation.
State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, said she was cutting through campus on her way home when she saw a crowd running toward her. UT is in her district.
“I asked, ‘What’s happening?’ And I was told they’re spraying pepper spray,” she said. “But then I started to feel it. You could smell it, too.”
Hinojosa said her eyes were irritated. Soon, she was among those handing out water to those who needed to flush out their eyes.
“There were some people suffering,” she said.
Hinojosa said the situation was escalated by having officers from the Department of Public Safety on campus.
“Students are even more angry because I think we all assumed that, after the pushback, the public pushback, UT wouldn’t do that again,” she said. “So I think students and faculty in this community are just that much angrier that it’s happening again.”
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
