Police officers and state troopers dressed in riotery confronted a little number of Palestinen supporters who had pitched tents on the campus on Monday. The police arrested dozens of people, they also used the peppery spray without any direct topics, and two law enforcement vehicles were trying to pass throngs of people chanted “out of our campus!” and essayed to block the law enforcers.
Within less than three hour time frame hundreds police officers managed to clear out the smaller tent site, but they got a very unpleasant surprise when they found themselves dealing with a much larger group of protesters near the university’s central mall, where the second tent city was erected.
Then, the crowd interrupted the police’s action and moved the people back into the mall; afterwards, the police accommodated to these actions. Other students came back to the very spot the robust colonial village turned into a pile of discarded tarpaulin, rubbish, and portable tables.
In February of 2020, I had the honor of serving as a leader among peers at our university who were in support of students who were being evicted from the campus. This encampment was much mentioned about by the university leaders and Gov. Greg Abbott as he had just recently ended a gathering at the state’s flagship university and had 50 arrests.
On Monday, the convoys more than tripled, the one being the point where police formed the cordon round the camp and said their move-in. At the rear of them, there were so many classmates and on-watchers chanting as well. The civil disobedience that the protestors demonstrated was made obvious when such people being arrested could be spotted struggling against the police such as going limp or pulling away officers who wanted to dismantle the camp.
“No encampments will be allowed,” Mr. Abbott wrote in a statement after the arrests had begun. “Instead, arrests are being made.”
Among the protesters, police arrested on Monday a journalist who happened to be at the encampment.
The University claimed that students during Monday’s rally were behaving more dangerously than others who came out on the campus to object to the war in Gaza, among them those arrested last week.
Brian Davis, a spokesman for the university, confirms that the protestors have been fragmenting online as a threatful communication tool throughout Saturday night. On Monday, he claimed participants ” violently connected with administration personnel to physically obstruct and verbally assault with, members of the Dean of Students staff who tried to take their tent camps. He suggested that such “baseball size rocks” were in a way aiming at the movement and it continued for few hours before the order was finally given to arrest the strikers. Then the day came, the last day of classes before finals. A positive commencement of May 11th is about to happen.
The protest group — with students and people who were not affiliated with the university making up the crowd — staged the tents around the South Mall and also use the university’s facilities for free.
The public police department will provide the order to disperse as soon as the camp is settled. A campus safety assistant, Shane Streepy, in his message to the campus, warned that a felony charge would apply to protesters who refused to disperse or try to resist the arrest by the City police.
Quickly afterward, masses of state police, woaded in riot equipment, showed up; again, the number was in line with an equivalent display of state’s force power on Wednesday of last week. They insisted that after the occurence of previous arrests, they (university) act as fast as possible to avoid the erection of any tent and other occupation of the campus.
“The whole thing boils down to one concept, and it`s rules. We enforce our rules,” Mitchel Rosen, the assistant vice president for communications, said during the phone interview. “And as our leader a la carte communicates, norms arsh tal.”
He added: “We’ve seen what happens at other universities when you don’t enforce your rules.”
Excessive heat was a factor in the protests on Monday as several people were brought out who appeared to be suffering. In one instance, officers prevented supporters from throwing water into the encampment.
Catherine Roland, a sophomore and psychology major, was not part of the encampment but came to support it after hearing about the dispersal order. “It’s disgusting,” she said of the police response. “We pay good tuition to go here and our rights are being violated,” she added.
Other students, while supportive of the protests, appeared to be wearying of the interruptions on campus.
“To be honest, I think the situation is unfortunate,” said Giulia Mayhua Pezo, a junior in biochemistry. “It’s really nice to see people fight for something they believe in,” she said, “but it’s getting crowded. If you’re walking to class, it can be unpleasant and a lot of streets are shut off.”
Roughly three hours after the first tents appeared, the encampment was gone.
But by the evening, students had returned to the lawn, milling about. Some chanted slogans in favor of the Palestinian cause. Nearby, police officers made some additional arrests of protesters who were attempting to block a vehicle that carried people who had been arrested earlier.
