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Roughly half of the demonstrators arrested at the University of Texas at Austin were not affiliated with the institution, according to administrators.
Of the fifty-five people who were found to have “violated institutional rules” during on-campus protests on Wednesday, some 26 were not staff or students, according to a statement released by UT Austin on Thursday.
Police on horseback arrived at UT Austin’s campus on 24 April and detained at least 20 people participating in the protest, which was organised by the university’s Palestinian Solidarity Committee.
The students were demanding that the institution divest from manufacturers supplying Israel weapons in attacks against Palestine, a call that’s been echoed on campuses nationwide. Universities from New York to California have staged similar pro-Palestine demonstrations in recent days.
A statement from UT Austin, shared with Fox7 on Thursday, said that the original protest had “sought to follow the playbook” of the “national campaign to paralyze the operations of universities across the country”.
“Like at each of those universities, and confirming our serious concern, there was significant participation by outside groups present on our campus yesterday. This outside group presence is what we’ve seen from the affiliated national organization’s efforts to disrupt and create disorder,” the statement read.
“Roughly half (26) of the 55 people who violated Institutional Rules and were ultimately arrested were unaffiliated with The University of Texas.
“Thirteen pro-Palestinian free speech events have taken place at the University largely without incident since October. In contrast, this one in particular expressed an intent to disrupt the campus and directed participants to break Institutional Rules and occupy the University, consistent with national patterns.”
Up to 100 state troopers were called in to stop the demonstrations, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott egging on the arrests. “Arrests being made right now & will continue until the crowd disperses. These protesters belong in jail,” he wrote on X.
“Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period. Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”
Governor Abbott has since been accused of going too far with the crackdowns.
A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was in the push-and-pull when an officer yanked him backwards to the ground, video shows.
The station confirmed that the photographer was arrested. A longtime Texas journalist was also knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff.
“Today, Greg Abbott’s [Department of Public Safety] has more courage to arrest peaceful student protesters than when an active shooter entered an elementary school in Uvalde,” state Democrats wrote in a statement Wednesday evening.
On Thursday the Travis County Attorney’s Office announced that the demonstrators who were arrested at Wednesday’s demonstrations would not be facing charges at this time. All those detained have been ordered released due to deficiencies in probable cause, ABC reported.
The scenes in Texas come as unrest and violence sweeps campuses across the US. Shocking scenes played out in states including Georgia, where police used Tasers on restrained students and shot pepper balls at demonstrators at Emory University.
However, Cheryl Elliott, Emory University’s vice president for public safety, said the person on whom officers used a stun gun in a video that has subsequently gone viral online, did not appear to be affiliated with Emory.
“Based on current information, this individual is not a member of the Emory community,” Elliot said in an email shared with the Emory community, via ABC. “Due to the direct assault of officers, law enforcement released chemical irritants into the ground to assist with crowd control.”
Twenty-eight people were arrested during the incident, 20 of whom were affiliated with the university, according to Ms Elliot.
On Thursday, the University of Southern California (USC) announced that the main stage ceremony for its commencement ceremony on 10 May would no longer take place. It followed protests on Wednesday which were ultimately dispersed by riot police with rubber bullets.
The Independent has reached out to UT at Austin for comment.
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