Texas cops arrest 79 at latest protest – while elite NYC university refuses to call in the cops on mob that smashed buildings and staged sit in
Police in Austin arrested 79 pro-Palestinian protesters who had set up an encampment at the University of Texas — a stark contrast to New York, where protesters from Columbia were allowed to take over parts of the campus.
Austin police moved into the encampment on the university’s South Lawn before deploying flash bangs and pepper spray to disperse those who had gathered Monday.
On Tuesday, the Travis County Jail confirmed that 79 people had been arrested in the protests.
78 of them were charged with criminal trespass, while one person was charged with interference with public duties.
Officers in riot gear surrounded the hundred or so seated protesters before beginning to drag them away.
While police in Texas quickly dealt with the protest, protests at Columbia University continued with a building on campus now taken over by demonstrators.
Law enforcement officers entered the encampment on the university’s South Lawn before taking steps to disperse those who had gathered Monday
On Tuesday, the Travis County Jail confirmed that 79 people had been arrested in the protests
A state soldier fights pro-Palestinian demonstrators with pepper spray after Monday’s demonstration
Monday’s protest was an escalation on the capital’s 53,000-student campus, where more than 50 demonstrators were arrested last week.
The university said in a statement that many protesters are not affiliated with the school and that encampments on campus are prohibited.
The school also said some protesters were “physically and verbally combative” with university staff.
In Columbia, protesters stormed and occupied Hamilton Hall on the main campus of Manhattan University after breaking into the school.
The occupation came almost 12 hours after Monday’s 2 p.m. deadline for demonstrators to leave their protest camp or risk suspension.
Due to the takeover, the school issued a stay-away notice to staff members telling them to avoid the Morningside campus on Tuesday morning.
They have since limited access to only students living in on-campus residential buildings and essential workers.
According to the Columbia Spectator, the group that entered threw their belongings inside before beginning to barricade themselves indoors.
Columbia Spectator, the group that entered, tossed their belongings aside before beginning to barricade themselves inside.
Lawn furniture and ropes secure the main entrance to Hamilton Hall, which was barricaded by student protesters
Protesters begin building a barricade at Hamilton Hall
University President Nemat Minouche Shafik said in a statement that days of negotiations between student organizers and academic leaders failed to convince protesters to remove dozens of tents set up to express their opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.
The students stormed the South Lawn building, which has been the scene of the university’s anti-Israel camp for more than a week.
Furniture from Hamilton Hall was stacked on top of each other during the students’ barricade efforts
Images of the mass demonstration show sleeping bags, jackets, backpacks and blankets strewn across the ground and piled in front of doors.
The students stormed the South Lawn building, which has been the scene of the university’s anti-Israel camp for more than a week.
They quickly climbed the stairs and dragged down tables and chairs from the classrooms, then barricaded the doors from the inside.
According to the student publication, the building was locked down in less than five minutes and protesters did not allow anyone inside.
Protesters blocked security cameras in the building with black trash bags and tape, and at least three facility employees stayed inside until 1 a.m., according to a building source.
University spokesperson Ben Chang said in a statement: “Early this morning, a group of protesters occupied Hamilton Hall on Columbia University’s Morningside campus.
“Access to campus is limited to students living in on-campus residential buildings and employees providing essential services to campus buildings.”
According to the student publication, the building was locked down in less than five minutes and protesters did not allow anyone inside
The crackdown in Columbia, at the center of Gaza-related protests that have roiled U.S. college campuses in recent weeks, came as University of Texas at Austin police arrested dozens of students they found at a pro-Palestinian rally with pepper spray.
Students used wooden beams to barricade the doors in Hamilton Hall
Hundreds of protesters, many wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, marched around the perimeter of the camp chanting, “Reveal! Push off! We will not stop, we will not rest’
Student demonstrators sit outside Hamilton Hall watching Tuesday morning
Four mask-wearing protesters lowered a banner reading “Hind’s Hall” from a window overlooking the crowd cheering its unraveling, according to a clip on X.
The building’s apparent new name was in honor of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was massacred in Gaza along with two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics who had tried to save her in January.
The little girl was in the vehicle that was reportedly the target of several Israeli gunfire.
Footage from inside Hamilton Hall shows angry protesters stacking two metal tables originally placed outside Hartley Hall and tying them to the doors with rope and zip ties.
At around 1:28 a.m., the protesters draped a Palestinian flag from a window on the building’s third floor before using newspapers to cover windows and doors.
A banner was then placed from the far left side of Hamilton Hall that read “Gaza Calls Columbia Falls.”
Protesters have pledged to maintain their encampment on campus until Columbia meets three demands: divestment, transparency in university finances and amnesty for students and faculty punished for their part in the protests.