20 Arrested at University of Texas Israel Protest

(Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 20 people were arrested Wednesday during pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas in Austin, part of an avalanche of protests at college campuses across the country amid Israel’s war against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

Multiple arrests were made earlier this week at Columbia University, New York University, and Yale as demonstrators demand their universities divest from Israeli businesses and for the federal government to stop backing Israel’s military.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee at the University of Texas said it is following in the footsteps of those students, KVUE-TV in Austin reported. On Wednesday morning, students walked out of class and met near Gregory Gym. They planned to march and occupy the university’s south mall.

But the university said in a letter by the Office of the Dean of Students to the Palestine Solidarity Committee that the protest was not authorized, KVUE reported, and would not be allowed to “proceed as planned.”

“Simply put, The University of Texas at Austin will not allow this campus to be ‘taken’ and protesters to derail our mission in ways that groups affiliated with your national organization have accomplished elsewhere,” the letter read, in part, according to KVUE. “Please be advised that you are not permitted to hold your event on the University campus. Any attempt to do so will subject your organization and its attending members to discipline including suspension under the Institutional Rules.”

The letter also noted that attendees not affiliated with the university will be asked to leave campus, and refusal to comply could result in arrests.

As students walked out of class at 11:40 a.m. local time to begin protesting, state and university police descended on horseback, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and on foot to meet them, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

After about 45 minutes of the crowd marching south on the Speedway Mall from the Gregory Gym area, police ordered the protesters to disperse or “be arrested as per the penal code.” A protest organizer repeated the order, and people began to disperse.

As students walked back, they began to chant and regather, which resulted in multiple arrests, the Statesman reported. By 2 p.m., as police began dispersing protesters students moved on to a different part of the campus, where they began setting up tents for an encampment.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the Texas Department of Public Safety said more than 20 people have been arrested, according to KVUE.

“Arrests being made right now & will continue until the crowd disperses,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a post on X. “These protesters belong in jail. 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.”