Anti-Israel groups continue their movement against the Texas university.
Anti-Israel protestors plan to gather again Tuesday on the University of Texas at Austin campus, following dozens of arrests on Monday after hundreds of protesters set up a surprise encampment on the university’s lawn.
“Join us TODAY, Tuesday the 30th, as we will be discussing the history of Palestine, key aspects of the movement, and modern context under colonial systems,” the Palestine Solidarity Committee wrote Tuesday morning on Instagram. The group claims the university is trying to suppress their right to free speech and assembly.
“As we see student repression on this campus and across the nation, it is clear that universities do not value education and justice — we will continue to advocate for a Free Palestine through education and community support, and we will continue the fight for liberation.”
Travis County Attorney Delia Garza confirmed 79 arrests were made at UT-Austin on Monday, adding that her office has received 65 cases for criminal trespass.
“Our office is working very hard to evaluate and process cases as cases are received,” Ms. Garza told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“There are many moving parts when someone is arrested,” she continued. “And it takes time on a normal day, not to mention the volume that we’re seeing now.”
“[A] number of protestors, many believed to be non-UT affiliated individuals, erected a tent encampment on the South Lawn, with a barricade enclosure of tables secured by metal chains, and strategically placed tools, tents, and rocks,” officials at UT-Austin said in a statement Monday night.”
Chaos and violence ensued when administrators and authorities ordered them to disperse and began dismantling their encampment.
“When approached, protestors escalated by becoming physically and verbally combative with Dean of Students’ staff,” the university said. “In response, the University of Texas took swift action to preserve a safe, conducive learning environment for our 53,000 students as they prepare for final exams.” Final exams are scheduled for May 2, 4, and 6. Commencement is set for May 11.
The university said it called on the Texas Department of Public Safety to provide backup “to protect the safety of the campus community and enforce our Institutional Rules, such as the rule that prohibits encampments on campus.
“Because of the encampments and other violations of the University’s Institutional Rules related to protests, protestors were told repeatedly to disperse. When they refused to disperse, some arrests were made for trespassing. Others were arrested for disorderly conduct,” campus officials said.
Later that evening, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) urged their supporters to rally outside the Travis County Jail in protest of the arrests as groups across the nation occupy college campuses demanding “liberation” for Hamas-controlled Gaza. PYM describes itself as a “transnational, independent, grassroots movement of Palestinian and Arab youth struggling for the liberation of our homeland.”
Supporters were asked to bring “portable chargers, noise-makers, cigarettes, water, food, energy, and friends!”
The group
alleges that the arrestees are being denied “food, water, and medical care” in jail.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Travis County officials for more information.
Who Are the Organizers?
PYM appears to be part of a broader group of organizations calling on faculty, students, and others to “defend Gaza.”The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslim Students Association of America, and Young Muslims hosted a “Know your Rights” and Impactful Protesting” webinar over the weekend.
“CAIR chapters nationwide are supporting the free speech rights of students and their call for an end to Israeli genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced starvation,” CAIR wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.
The webinar provided legal information and
resources for the Islamic groups and their supporters, including how to handle encounters with law enforcement.
“Your revolution is to stop a genocide,” CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor told attendees, according to the email.
“The George Floyd protests reminded America that we need to have some difficult conversations in our nation,“ Mr. Saylor added. ”To see the bastions of academic freedom deploying law enforcement against their own students and faculty who support an end to a genocide suggests such uncomfortable conversations remain unwelcome.”Organizers Issue ‘Strike’ Against Universities
On Monday night, PYM
issued a nationwide “strike” against universities beginning May 1.
“NO CLASS. NO GRADES. NO FINALS. STRIKE!
“Starting May 1st, we call on faculty, academic workers, and graduate students to join the student movement by withholding their labor from institutions that are invested in genocide. Your campus boards and administrations are not listening to the student movement. They are brutally repressing the encampments, they are doubling down on their investments in Israel, with several saying that they will not divest. Your action can change this reality and increase the pressure to new heights,” the group wrote on Instagram.
The group alleges that universities are funding the war against Hamas.
“Heed the call from trade unions in Palestine: ‘Decent employment should never come at the expense of countless Palestinian lives…an injury to one is truly an injury to all.’ Our universities are invested in the bombs that have destroyed Gaza’s educational infrastructure. If there is no functioning university in Gaza, there should be no functioning university here,” the post continued.
Growing Anti-semitism
Increasing unrest at colleges nationwide continues as faculty, students, and outsiders continue to infiltrate campuses in protest of the Israel–Hamas war.On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists brutally attacked Israel, killing more than 1,200 and taking hundreds of Israelis and foreigners hostage. At least 130 remain unaccounted for and are believed to still be in captivity. Some are believed to be dead.
Israel launched a ground operation and strikes against Gaza following the attack on its nation. The
Gaza Health Ministry, run by Hamas, claims more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing war. Israel says it believes at least 10,000 of those killed are Hamas combatants.
Nearly a week ago, the UT-Austin chapter of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) made its first attempt to occupy the university “in the footsteps of our comrades at Columbia SJP, Rutgers-New Brunswick. Yale, and countless others across the nation,” according to the group’s Instagram account.
University administrators repeatedly warned PSC that its event would violate institutional policy. It told the group that the event was not permitted and violators would be arrested.
PSC ignored UT-Austin administrators and moved forward with their plan on April 24.
Law enforcement was deployed on campus, and more than 50 people were arrested for criminal trespassing. All of the arrestees were later released, and all charges were dropped.
Following the initial arrests, a faculty group known as the American Association of University Professors condemned UT-Austin President Jay Hartzell for allowing authorities on campus and for the arrests after agitators refused university and police orders to disperse.
On Thursday, April 25, the faculty group and PSC joined together for another day of protesting, which led to the student group’s suspension from the university.
According to university officials, more than a dozen similar demonstrations had taken place on campus before April 24, mostly without incident.
The university said it supports free speech and the right to assemble when student safety is not threatened.
“The University strongly supports the free speech and assembly rights of our community, and we want students and others on campus to know that protests on campus are fully permissible, provided that they do not violate Institutional Rules or threaten the safety of our campus community,” a UT-Austin spokesperson said in a statement.
