Several pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested by law enforcement on Wednesday at the University of Texas at Austin, as they gathered to oppose Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza, with more arrests likely to follow.
Local police, alongside state troopers in riot gear, were dispatched to the South Lawn at UT Austin, where hundreds of students gathered to call on the school to cut ties with weapons manufacturers that have continued to arm Israel. At least 10 protesters have already been arrested by police after they were told to disperse, according to the Texas Tribune.
Troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety threatened to arrest any protesters who remained on the South Lawn for trespassing, according to KXAN’s Ryan Chandler. The arrests quickly turned violent, with one video of the protest showing police pushing into the crowd of protesters, shoving them to the ground, and handcuffing them.
Troopers continued the tense encounter by circling protesters on the lawn and pushing them back with riot gear. As this confrontation was taking place, protesters continued to chant, “Free, free, free Palestine!”
The demonstration began when hundreds of students left class at 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday as part of a protest organized by the Palestinian Solidarity Committee of Austin. In an Instagram post, the group said it was following in “the footsteps of our comrades at Columbia SJP, Rutgers-New Brunswick, Yale, and countless others across the nation.”
On Tuesday, the Dean of Students office sent a letter to the protest organizers telling them to pull the plug on the protest.
“Please be advised that you are not permitted to hold your event on the University campus. Any attempt to do so will subject your organization and its attending members to discipline including suspension under the Institutional Rules,” the letter said. “Refusal to comply may result in arrest.”
This post was originally published on Daily Beast
