Seventy-nine pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after setting up encampment at UT Austin

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the actual arrest count as reported by the sheriff's office Tuesday.

Seventy-nine pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested Monday at the University of Texas after dozens of people set up an encampment on the campus’ South Mall to call for the school to divest from Israeli weapons manufacturers as well as for a cease-fire in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war, which has reportedly left more than 30,000 dead.

Three Travis County officials told the American-Statesman on Monday evening that at least 100 protesters were expected to be booked in jail, according to a briefing from UT leaders. The officials said the charges could include resisting arrest and assault. On Tuesday morning, the Travis County sheriff's office reported that 79 protesters were arrested Monday.

Seventy-eight of those arrested were charged with criminal trespass, and one person received an additional charge of obstructing a highway or passageway, said Kristen Dark, sheriff's office public information officer. One person was also charged with interfering with public duties, Dark said.

With chants of "Free Palestine," protesters, many of them students, formed the surprise encampment, setting up tents and creating a barrier around the encampment using foldable tables, some of which were chained together. The encampment cropped up shortly after UT faculty members held a silent vigil at noon for scholasticide, honoring the loss of education life in Gaza, as well as another rally on the west side of the UT Tower at 12:15 p.m. for diversity, equity and inclusion.

"Whose lawn? Our lawn!" some protesters chanted from their encampment on the South Mall.

This is the first escalation by protesters since the pro-Palestinian rallies on campus Wednesday, when 57 people were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing. All those charges were later dropped, however, after Travis County Attorney Delia Garza, whose office handles misdemeanor cases, said her office agreed with defense lawyers that there were "deficiencies" with the probable cause arrest affidavits, which are the documents filled out by law enforcement officers to justify an arrest.

By about 4 p.m. Monday, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and UT police had dismantled the encampment and arrested protesters, dragging some of them from the impromptu setup for not leaving the area after a dispersal order was issued. George Lobb, an attorney with the Austin Lawyers Guild, told the American-Statesman that at least 43 protesters had been arrested as of 5 p.m., though that number was expected to grow.

Police reportedly used pepper spray to disperse crowds. A UT biochemistry senior told the Stateman she was sprayed while students were trying to stop a van taking protesters to jail along Inner Campus Drive.

“Nobody was doing anything violent against police. We’re literally just standing there,” Georgina Bermudez said, adding that police did not give a warning before deploying the pepper spray, sending students scattering.

“It was chaos,” Bermudez said.

Students who were pepper-sprayed gathered in Sutton Hall, where Austin Fire Department paramedics treated them.

At 2:43 p.m., UT police wrote in an email dispersal notice obtained by the Statesman that people attending the “South Mall event” were in violation of Texas laws relating to disorderly conduct, riots, “obstructing a highway or passageway,” and criminal trespass, as per several sections of the Texas Penal Code.

UT spokesperson Brian Davis said in a statement that “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.”

Breaking a university’s rules is not a criminal offense except in cases in which those rules overlap with criminal law. But under House Bill 1925, Texas has banned residential encampments in public places that are established without a government official’s consent.

Gov. Greg Abbott, who has taken a hard-line approach to the protesters, said in a post on the social media platform X just after 3 p.m.: "No encampments will be allowed. Instead, arrests are being made."

'Extensive online threats'

In a statement shared by UT spokesperson Mike Rosen at 2:30 p.m., the university said it had received "extensive online threats" Saturday from a group organizing Monday's protest, though it did not name the group. It said the threats have been reported to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The UT statement said protesters on Monday "ignored repeated directives" from university administrators and law enforcement officers to comply with university rules and remove tents on the campus's South Lawn. The university said students "physically engaged with and verbally assaulted" staff members from the Office of the Dean of Students who attempted to confiscate the tents.

"Baseball size rocks were found strategically placed within the encampment," the statement said.

Most of the protesters are believed to be unaffiliated with the university, according to the statement.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee, a registered student group that was placed on an interim suspension for setting up the pro-Palestinian rallies on campus last week, said it was not involved in organizing the event but is supportive of the protesters.

Ammer Qaddumi, a UT student and member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, noted that before the group’s suspension, it had successfully organized numerous protests on campus this year. But now the rallies are being held by other groups.

“UT’s suspension of our organization will absolutely come with some limitations to what we can do on campus, but we are not the sole advocates for Palestine," Qaddumi said. "In Austin we have been fortunate to create coalitions and partnerships with other solidarity groups that will continue the struggle where we can’t. They can try to suspend PSC, but the movement will carry on through others until they adhere to our demands.”

No single group has taken credit for organizing the encampment. A person occupying the camp before police cleared the premises gave the American-Statesman a printed press release that included an email address for the “UT Liberated Zone."

A person whose phone number was listed on the press release declined to state their name. The respondent said individuals began planning for the encampment after Wednesday's protest.

Several community groups that are not officially affiliated with UT played a role in mobilizing participants through social media.

In an Instagram post Saturday, the Weelaunee Defense Society wrote of an imagined, future “Liberated Zone” on the UT campus.

A “Statement to our Past Selves” dated May 1 described plans for a growing encampment and a total disruption of campus operations. Administrators would be forced to hold virtual meetings from their offices but would be "interrupted by community-led protests at their doors and mysterious internet outages."

That same day, the group’s Instagram account — @wds_atx — also posted a link to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal called “Longhorn Liberated Zone.” Anonymous administrators posted announcements and videos of the protest several times Monday.

“ENCAMPMENT HAS STARTED ON THE SOUTH LAWN!” the Weelaunee Defense Society wrote in another post about 1 p.m. Monday. “Ut students and austin community need all hands on deck NOW.”

Pro-Palestinian organizations including the Palestinian Youth Movement and the Austin for Palestine Coalition also posted that they were participating in the encampment in joint Instagram posts with the Weelaunee Defense Society.

Staff writers Bayliss Wagner, Serena Lin, Skye Seipp and Tony Plohetski contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 79 arrested during pro-Palestinian encampment at UT Austin