AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin has suspended the activities of the Palestine Solidarity Committee and the National Student Chapter for Palestine Justice, two registered student groups on campus. The move follows multiple campus protests last week in which nearly 60 people were arrested for trespassing. The arrests occurred Wednesday after law enforcement orders to disperse and leave the central tower area of campus were ignored.
On Friday, the group received formal notification from the university that it had ceased operations, and posted a message on Facebook urging supporters to contact the organization and demand that it be reinstated.
FACEBOOK: Palestine Solidarity Committee
In a lengthy Facebook post, the group appears to keep the “I” in Israel lowercase and capitalize the “P” in Palestine. The message reads:
The UT’s suspension of the Palestine Solidarity Committee is an attack on free speech that distracts from and enables Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people!
Jay Herzl and Greg Abbott have given Texas State Police, Austin Police, and Texas State Police the power to violently attack and arrest protesters on campus, but Palestinians remain under a state of emergency. He lives inside, and Texas State University doesn’t allow it. The number of Palestinians killed by Israel now exceeds 34,000, yet the university has repeatedly changed its policy on protests, been deliberately vague about these changes, and continued to engage in threats and brutality against the student body. The campaign is committed to violently dispersing protests.
This shows that UT is selectively censoring pro-Palestinian student groups in an attempt to thwart protests against increasingly brutal Israeli attacks. We are aware of what UT’s intimidation tactics are. Our suspension is the latest example of a pattern of censorship. The UT’s suppression of free speech reinforces racist discourse that devalues the lives of Palestinians.
As students from diverse backgrounds across the country stand up for Palestinian lives, campus administrators like ours seek to silence our voices. But we are not silent. It is imperative that we act urgently as Israel continues to bomb hospitals, schools, homes and refugee camps while cutting off food and water to more than 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. . Palestinian lives are at risk. The United Front of the UT’s Palestine Solidarity Committee and our allies unequivocally demand a ceasefire now and will continue to call for the UT to break away from Israeli apartheid.
Breitbart Texas attended a rally Thursday the night before the outage. This reporter observed a walkout and protest organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee near the campus central shopping mall near the University of Texas Tower on Thursday afternoon. The approximately 300 demonstrators, many waving Palestinian flags and wearing Arab keffiyehs, moved through the mall holding signs that read “Liberate Palestine.” More than 100 other people demonstrated on a grassy area near the tower, holding signs at the George Washington statue that read, “Stop the cops, support your community.”
Pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas at Austin. (Randy Clark/Breitbart, Texas)
The pro-Palestinian protesters refused to speak to Breitbart Texas on camera and refused to identify themselves when asked about the purpose of the protest. Among the few to speak out at all were those who expressed displeasure over the arrests made during Wednesday’s protests. Pro-Israel counter-protesters were more candid, describing their experiences during Wednesday’s rally.
Pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas at Austin. (Randy Clark/Breitbart, Texas)
“The protesters threatened to kill us, stole our signs, told us to go back to Germany, shouted that all Palestinians are Arabs, and started an intifada,” said Osean Maher, a young woman who supports Jewish students on campus. He was holding a placard that read “I’m calling you.” ” Maher told Breitbart Texas that this is something she experienced firsthand on Wednesday, but she said Thursday that the situation had improved due to police response. Several other pro-Israel students walked through the crowd holding Israeli flags. They were sometimes met with unfriendly looks and middle fingers from pro-Palestinian protesters. The interaction was not physical.
A Jewish student holds a placard explaining what happened on the first day of pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas. (Randy Clark/Breitbart, Texas)
Seth Greenwald, a law student at Texas Jewish University, said he was spat at twice on the first day of a pro-Palestinian rally, Breitbart Texas reported. Greenwald also credited the police response for helping calm the environment Thursday. As reported by Breitbart Texas, multiple arrests were made as pro-Palestinian protesters refused to disperse after attempting to take over part of the campus, similar to Columbia University earlier this week. .
Randy Clark / Breitbart Texas
University of Texas President Jay Hartzell statement On Thursday, he cited events at other universities across the country and a move to cancel Wednesday’s protests. His message is:
Yesterday was clearly a difficult and divisive day for our campus. Many campuses like ours are facing similar difficult challenges as efforts to disrupt top universities spread across the country. We are all struggling with how to reconcile broad and important goals such as student safety, continuity and excellence in teaching and research, and the right to express one’s views and demand change. I think virtually all of us support each of these goals, even if we disagree to some degree about how to weigh them in particular situations. The university’s decision not to allow yesterday’s event to go ahead as scheduled is a sign that event organizers, whether national or local, have used the machinery of freedom of speech and expression to cause serious disruption and to do so elsewhere. This was because there were reliable indications that it was trying to follow the pattern it was seeing. You can continue on campus for a long period of time. ”
By early Thursday morning, most of the people who were nearly arrested for criminal trespass on campus during Wednesday’s protests had been released from the Travis County Jail. Most of the criminal cases were dismissed by Travis County Attorney Delia Garza, who raised questions about probable cause for the arrests by law enforcement officers.
In a statement released Thursday, Garza said:
The Travis County Prosecutor’s Office received several cases yesterday and throughout the evening as a result of yesterday’s demonstrations at the University of Texas. Defense attorneys raised legal concerns. We reviewed each case submitted individually and agreed that the probable cause affidavits were deficient. The court granted these people’s release and ordered their release. We will continue to individually review all cases submitted to our office to determine whether prosecution is factually and legally appropriate.
randy clark He is a 32-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as Division Chief of Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol stations within the Del Rio, Texas area. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
