From entry to arrest: Inside the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Texas at Dallas

Shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday, Ben Wright was sitting in a camp chair at the academy on a blue tarp, reading. Dozens of students surrounded the history professor inside the University of Texas at Dallas' Liberation Area (commonly known as Chess Plaza). Wright, whose specialty is abolition studies, is the Emancipated Area, as protesters have named the short-term encampment at the intersection of two major campus highways. Wright, like others across the country, led a discussion session with students who had come together to demand that the university strip all assets from companies profiting from the war in Gaza.

“We're reading articles about the destruction of universities in Gaza,” Wright said.

Six hours later, as a swarm of law enforcement officers from five different agencies, including the Allen Police SWAT Team, were dismantling and disposing of the barricades and tents that made up the liberated area, Wright was arrested along with at least 18 other people, most of them students. ) was arrested along with him. Three history professors were among those arrested who were held overnight in the Collin County Jail. Each was charged with trespassing. Wright could not be reached for comment Thursday morning because he is still in custody awaiting an interview with a judge.

The protesters who filled the UT Dallas encampment did not commit any acts of violence, express hate speech, or destroy property. Groups of students, faculty, and community members chose to intentionally occupy public spaces on public university campuses, as many social movements have done throughout American history, but in the eyes of the universities and authorities. was considered an overreach.

“I'm Jewish,” said Miles Iola, a Dallas resident who joined students at the University of Texas at Dallas protest. “I am here because I support the voices of the oppressed, regardless of ethnicity or creed. There are Jewish voices on campus who agree with us and organize for the same cause. So I want to nip this idea in the bud that this movement exists to disenfranchise Jews from campuses.”

Before sunrise Wednesday morning, University of Texas at Dallas students began setting up a protest camp in Chess Plaza, a part of the campus near the Collin County line. The liberated zone was fully formed by 10 a.m., with slogans and posters pasted on plywood barricades. The tent was decorated with a sign. Food, supplies, and a literature library were placed on a folding table. A crowd gathered just outside the camp and stood in solidarity.

There was a calm atmosphere throughout the day in the Liberated Area. In addition to readings, student demonstrators chanted, studied, prayed and ate lunch. The protest camp did not block access to the building. The only noticeable disruption was in the path of food delivery robots. Just before 4 p.m., the University of Texas at Dallas told protesters that they could peacefully gather in outdoor common areas on campus to exercise their right to free speech, but they were not allowed to build encampments or block walkways. It is not possible to do so.''

By late afternoon, law enforcement from various departments had surrounded the encampment. Texas police departments in Dallas, Richardson, and Allen all sent officers. Troopers from the Collin County Sheriff's Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety lined the edge of the encampment.

Police set up an operations center in a conference room overlooking the square, and helicopters and surveillance drones flew overhead. Immediately, a column of officers, backed by black military armored vehicles courtesy of the Allen Police Department, began preparing to move into the camp.

Just before 4 p.m., University of Texas at Dallas administrators issued a warning to protest organizers that “setting up encampments, including tents, barricades, and other structures, is not permitted under the university's policy on freedom of speech and assembly.” , and permission to hold public gatherings has not been granted.'' Permitted under other University of Texas at Dallas or University of Texas System policies or regulations. ”

Organizers immediately began warning protesters of impending attacks and encouraged the elderly, people with disabilities, people with children, and anyone who did not want to be arrested to leave the liberated area before it was too late.

Minutes after UT Dallas administrators delivered the letter, police tore down the barricades and began arresting everyone who remained at the post. Witnesses reported that there was no verbal warning from law enforcement prior to their approach. Most of the demonstrators retreated as police advanced, but the rest, including Mr. Wright and two other teachers, were arrested. A core group of student activists sat in a circle, arms folded toward the advancing police. Officers picked them up one by one, placed them in zip ties and marched them away. No one resisted arrest. A police officer clutching bolt cutters shoved a Fox 4 reporter.

As word spread that police had attacked the University of Texas at Dallas Liberation Area, the crowd of protesters grew in size and surrounded the police, who disposed of what was left of the encampment by throwing it into trucks. “Uvalde has failed,” protesters shouted at a line of baton-wielding state troopers. Nearby, a small group of counter-demonstrators held Israeli flags, but there were no clashes.

After the initial arrests and removals, police made no attempt to disperse the remaining protesters. When the sweep was nearly complete, organizers urged people to move away from police and gather in the student union building, where students continued to demonstrate for several hours. As the sun began to set, another group of protesters split up and headed to the Collin County Jail to support those arrested.

This type of police repression has not been seen at the pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas at Dallas in recent weeks. When students staged two separate sit-ins in the administration building last month, administrators at the University of Texas at Dallas met with student organizers to discuss demands for a divestment instead of calling the police. agreed.

Things have changed in recent weeks. Protest camps have sprung up at universities across the country, including some in Texas. In 2019, Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation aimed at protecting free speech on college campuses. Five years later, on April 24, Mr. Abbott said that the protesters who organized a large camp at the University of Texas at Austin were “in jail,” adding, “We are going to take a hateful turn at a public university in Texas.” Students who participate in anti-Semitic protests should be expelled.” On April 29, 79 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at UT Austin. Another encampment appeared at UT Arlington Thursday morning.

“I think they were intimidated by the gathering of students that they felt they had no control over,” said Scott, a fourth-year student at the University of Texas at Dallas and an organizer with Students for Justice in Palestine. One Fatima Ahmed said. “This was a completely peaceful protest. We spent the entire day eating lunch, singing, and speaking. I didn't expect this. That this would be UT Austin again. I didn't think so.

As of noon Thursday, everyone arrested the previous afternoon had been charged and gradually being released.

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