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Police officers on Wednesday arrested 17 people and broke up a pro-Palestinian protest and destroyed tents at the University of Texas at Dallas at Richardson, 12 hours after a student encampment had opened to demand the university divest from U.S. companies linked to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Footage from NBC5 in Dallas showed people being taken away by police. Kim Horner, public affairs manager for the University of Texas at Dallas, said in an email that 17 people had been arrested for trespassing on campus as of 5 p.m.
Pro-Palestinian students set up tents and food stations in the campus square at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. They also hung a banner that read, “Welcome to Gaza Liberation Square.” By midday, the campus square camp had 10 tents set up and about 100 students gathered, according to KERA.
Throughout the day, campus police officers surrounded the protests and watched from afar, but after 4 p.m., the Public Security Bureau deployed officers on the ground to disperse the crowds.
Horner said the arrests came after the University of Dallas released a statement early Wednesday saying encampments, including tents and barricades, are not permitted under University of Texas System policy.
“Individuals may peacefully assemble and exercise their free speech rights in any common outdoor areas of campus, but may not establish or maintain encampments,” the statement released Wednesday said.
The statement also called for all tents to be removed immediately, stating that anyone who fails to do so could be charged with trespassing and evicted.
Horner said the university gave protesters an “opportunity to comply,” but when they refused, law enforcement officers, working with county and state law enforcement, removed the encampment. He said UT Dallas police continue to monitor the campus.
The group that organized the protest, Students for Justice in Palestine, said it lasted 10 hours. They staged a sit-in at the University of Texas at Dallas’ administration building earlier last week and were allowed to stay.
The group then met with University of Texas at Dallas President Richard C. Benson on Friday.
In a press release on Wednesday morning, SJP representatives said they had hoped the meeting would discuss how university officials could meet their demands, but they were not satisfied with the university’s response and walked out of the meeting.
“Benson also organized meetings with Zionist organizations, disrupted the activities of Palestinian students and student allies, and portrayed genocide as a two-sided issue,” the SPJ statement said.
In a press release Wednesday morning, the group accused companies including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Boeing of fueling “endless war, death and destruction in Palestine and around the world” and called on universities to divest from the companies.
The war between Israel and Hamas began last October when Hamas attacked Israel, taking some 250 hostages and killing around 1,200 Israelis. Since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed and around 77,000 injured, two-thirds of them women or children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
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DPS officers in riot gear marched past supplies provided to a pro-Palestinian encampment that was set up before dawn Wednesday. Several protesters were arrested and the encampment was dismantled in the afternoon.
credit:
Shelby Tauber, Texas Tribune
The violence has sparked demonstrations on college campuses across the US, with the University of Texas at Dallas incident marking the second in the state where arrests have been made.
At least 136 protesters have been arrested at the University of Texas at Austin in recent days for protests. An April 24 riot saw a peaceful student walkout quickly broken up by DPS officers, resulting in 57 arrests. On Monday, 79 more people were arrested in Austin after students tried to camp out on campus lawns. Authorities used pepper spray and flash bangs to break up that demonstration. Many of the state’s Republican leaders have praised the police response in Austin.
On other campuses, the response has been more muted: Students walked out of classes at the University of North Texas earlier this week, but no arrests were made, and demonstrations also took place at Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at San Antonio and other universities with few incidents.
After the arrests at the University of Dallas, police removed tents, pulled down Palestinian flags and other equipment set up by protesters and loaded them onto trucks.
Helmeted police department officers stood side by side and with batons to form a human wall to keep people out of the square, but some protesters were allowed to continue waving flags and chanting slogans nearby. Campus officials in university trucks began clearing tents and other items from the encampment.
Disclosure: The Boeing Co., the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas are financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is supported in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters have no role in Tribune journalism. A complete list of financial supporters can be found here.
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