Violent Pro-Palestine Protest at UT Austin Leads to Mass Arrests

Austin, Texas – State police officers arrested dozens of demonstrators who established a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday in an intense confrontation that turned violent during the final day of classes for this semester. By midday, several hundred individuals were seated on the lawn of the academic pavilion refusing to leave after campus officials and law enforcement asked them to do so as part of protests happening nationwide against universities’ ties with defense department-linked corporations or those supporting Israel in its conflict against Hamas in Gaza. Police physically dragged out protestors, some resisting even when handcuffed; University representatives alleged that protesters ignored repeated orders from both university administrators and law enforcement officers to dismantle their tents following violent altercations between personnel trying to bring the encampment down with demonstrators who refused to cooperate. The statement also mentioned finding baseball-sized rocks in the vicinity of the camp, adding that most protesters were not affiliated with UT Austin and they received online threats from a group organizing Monday’s protest on Saturday. After police removed those arrested at the encampment, hundreds more clashed several blocks away with law enforcement; two flashbangs exploded out of sight while demonstrators chanted “We are being assaulted by flashbags!” The crowd pushed back against officers and blocked a city bus loaded with Texas Department of Public Safety agents to depart. A standoff occurred as protesters pounded on the windows, taunting police until they eventually moved in preventing further obstruction at another exit; after loading several dozen arrestees onto a Travis County Sheriff’s Department bus, officers pepper-sprayed those who refused to back up while chanting “You are violent. We are peaceful” and jeered the police throughout their standoff with chants of “APD, KKK, IDF.” The crowd taunted law enforcement with a chant of ‘f*** you fascists.’ Police left around 7 p.m., after all arrestees were transported off campus while hundreds returned to camp vicinity afterwards.