Police in Austin arrested 79 pro-Palestine protestors who set up an encampment at the University of Texas – a marked contrast to NYC, where Columbia protesters have been allowed to take over parts of the campus.
Austin law enforcement moved in on the encampment on the university’s South Lawn before deploying flash bangs and pepper spray to disperse those that had gathered on Monday.
On Tuesday, Travis County jail confirmed that 79 people were arrested at the protests.
78 of those had been charged with criminal trespassing, while one person was charged with interfering with public duties.
Officers in riot gear encircled the roughly 100 sitting protestors before they started dragging and carrying them away.
While police in Texas quickly dealt with the protest, protests at Columbia University have continued with a building at the campus now taken over by protestors.
Law enforcement moved in on the encampment on the university’s South Lawn before deploying the measures to disperse those that had gathered on Monday
On Tuesday, Travis County jail confirmed that 79 people were arrested at the protests
A state trooper pepper sprays pro-Palestinian protesters following the demonstration on Monday
The protest on Monday was an escalation on the 53,000-student campus in the state capital where more than 50 protestors were arrested last week.
The university said in a statement that many protestors were not affiliated with the school and that encampments are prohibited on campus.
The school also said that some demonstrators were ‘physically and verbally combative’ with university staff.
At Columbia, protestors stormed and occupied Hamilton Hall on the main campus of the Manhattan university after smashing their way into the school.
The occupation came nearly 12 hours after the deadline of 2pm on Monday for protestors to leave their protest encampment or face suspension.
Due to the takeover, the school issued a stay away notice for members of staff telling them to avoid the Morningside campus on Tuesday morning.
They’ve since limited access to students residing in residential buildings on campus and essential employees only.
According to the Columbia Spectator, the group who made it inside threw their belongings inside before they started barricading themselves indoors.
Columbia Spectator, the group who made it inside threw their belongings aside before they started barricading themselves inside.
Outdoor furniture and ropes secure the front entrance of Hamilton Hall, which student protesters barricaded
Demonstrators begin building a barricade inside of Hamilton Hall
University President Nemat Minouche Shafik said in a statement that days of negotiations between student organizers and academic leaders had failed to persuade demonstrators to remove the dozens of tents set up to express opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza
The students stormed the building located along the South Lawn, which has been the scene of the university’s anti-Israel encampment for over a week
Furniture from within Hamilton Hall was stacked in top of each other in the students’ barricading efforts
Images from the mass demonstration show sleeping bags, coats, rucksacks and blankets strewn across the ground and piled up in front of doors.
The students stormed the building located along the South Lawn, which has been the scene of the university’s anti-Israel encampment for over a week.
They quickly climbed the stairs, dragging down tables and chairs from classrooms which they then used to barricade the doors from the inside.
The building was locked down in less than five minutes, according to the student publication, and protesters allowed no one to enter.
Protesters blocked security cameras inside the building with black trash bags and tape, and according to a source from within the building, at least three facility workers remained inside until 1am.
Ben Chang, university spokesperson, said in a statement: ‘Early this morning, a group of protestors occupied Hamilton Hall on the Morningside campus of Columbia University.
‘Access to campus has been limited to students residing in residential buildings on campus and employees who provide essential services to campus buildings.’
The building was locked down in less than five minutes, according to the student publication, and protesters allowed no one to enter
The crackdown at Columbia, at the center of Gaza-related protests roiling university campuses across the U.S. in recent weeks, occurred as police at the University of Texas at Austin arrested dozens of students whom they doused with pepper spray at a pro-Palestinian rally
Students used wooden beams to barricade the doors inside Hamilton Hall
Hundreds of demonstrators, many wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, marched around the perimeter of the encampment chanting, ‘Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest’
Student protesters sit and watch outside Hamilton Hall on Tuesday morning
Four protesters wearing masks lowered a banner reading ‘Hind’s Hall’ from a window overlooking the crowd who cheered its unraveling, according to a clip posted to X.
The apparent renaming of the building was in honor of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was slaughtered in Gaza alongside two paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society who had attempted to rescue her in January.
The little girl was inside the vehicle that had allegedly been the target of several rounds of Israeli gunfire.
Images from within the Hamilton Hall show how furious protesters stacked two metal tables that had originally been placed outside of Hartley Hall on top of each other and bound them to the doors with rope and zip ties.
At around 1.28am, the protesters draped a Palestinian flag from a window on the third floor of the building before using newspapers to cover windows and doors.
A banner was then dropped from the leftmost side of Hamilton Hall, reading ‘Gaza Calls Columbia Falls.’
Protesters have vowed to keep their encampment on the campus until Columbia meets three demands: divestment, transparency in university finances, and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined for their part in the protests.