Student protests have broken out in many universities in the United States recently. Protesters support Palestine and demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. While the school is working to calm the situation, it is also seeking help from law enforcement. According to reports from foreign media such as the Associated Press and the Guardian, on April 24, local time, at the University of Texas at Austin, a large number of police officers entered the campus and forcefully arrested dozens of people.
According to the local “Austin Chronicle” report, at 11:40 a.m. on the 24th, hundreds of students gathered in front of the gymnasium of the University of Texas at Austin for a peaceful rally, preparing to walk to the school’s south square to set up tents there to protest Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. Military action. After students arrived at the pedestrian mall on campus, chanting “Free Palestine” and waving Palestinian flags, Then a group of Texas Rangers rushed into the protest and arrested many people., Among them was a man identified as a cameraman for Fox 7 Austin.
Video showed the man holding the device being pushed and pushed backwards by a police officer and fell to the ground. Fox 7 confirmed that the media worker had been arrested. Another longtime Texas reporter was knocked down in the chaos and bleeding profusely before police handed him over to emergency medical personnel.
After the initial round of arrests, Texas police asked the protesting students to disperse because they were blocking the road, but an unnamed freshman told the newspaper: “We blocked the road because they wouldn’t let us pass. road”. The protesters then went to the South Lawn of the campus as planned and began to set up tents and chant slogans. Police from the Austin Police Department and the University of Texas at Austin campus police joined the state troopers and began to disperse and arrest students. During the process, 20 people were arrested.
The Associated Press said hundreds of local police and state troopers, including some on horseback and armed with batons, rushed into the crowd of protesters, causing some to be knocked to the ground. The Texas Department of Public Safety said that at the request of the university and Texas Governor Abbott, police entered the campus and arrested a total of 34 people.
The British “Guardian” reported that Abbott called these protesting students “belonging in prison.” In a statement posted on the social platform Students who engage in anti-socialist protests should be expelled.”
Dane Urquhart, a junior at the University of Texas, believed that the police action was an “overreaction” and that if the police had not intervened forcefully, the protest “should have remained peaceful.” “I think there will be more demonstrations because of all these arrests,” he told The Associated Press.
After hours of trying to control the crowd, police eventually withdrew from the campus, and about 300 protesters returned to the lawn below the bell tower to chant slogans. In a statement released on the evening of the 24th local time, Jay Hartzell, president of the University of Texas at Austin, said: “Our regulations are important and they will be enforced. Our university will not be occupied. “
Austin City Council members expressed dissatisfaction with the university’s response. Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes posted on the social platform X: “Intimidation to suppress peaceful protests is an unnecessary escalation. We deserve an explanation.” , why take such extreme action to suppress the voices of seemingly peaceful protesters.”
According to reports, the event at the University of Texas was in response to protesting students at American universities such as New York University and Yale University, who demanded that their respective schools sever ties with manufacturers that sell weapons to Israel. In recent days, hundreds of students who set up tents to protest on Columbia University’s lawn have been arrested. As protests in support of Palestine sweep across many U.S. colleges and universities, U.S. House Speaker Johnson has asked President Biden to mobilize the National Guard
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